Nery Gracia
By Mónica Adame
The first time armed gang members threatened Daniela Azpilcueta, 27, a resident of Monterrey, in the Northern state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, she immediately tuned to Twitter.
“I saw the gun on the right window and just accelerated. That was the first time I tweeted. Something like, “how scary!” Now before boarding my car, I always check two accounts: @desdelarisca and @trackMTY,” Azpilcueta said. A citizen initiative, these Twitter accounts provide alerts about shootings and violence. For many Mexicans they’ve become an integral survival strategy in the war between the government and the drug cartels.
Nuevo Leon, bordering Texas, is considered the industrial and technological hub of Mexico. Filled with influential businessmen and rich residents, Monterrey, its capital, was a peaceful and alluring city until 2007 when drug cartel violence spilled over from neighboring states. A year earlier, President Felipe Calderon announced his decision to combat drug cartels and organized crime, making this fight his administration’s priority. He dispatched thousands of soldiers to assist local public security agencies to states in the center and north of the country.
Regios, as residents of Nuevo Leon are known in Spanish, have been particularly affected by the ensuing war. In 2010, 610 people were executed. Of these, 12 percent were police officers accounting for the highest rate of these attacks in the country. Violence strikes everywhere. The mayors of the municipalities of Santiago and Doctor Gonzalez were assassinated. Two students of an elite university were killed during a skirmish between the Mexican military and the Zetas. A car bomb, the first in the state, detonated in front of police headquarters.
“At the beginning, three years ago or so, it was even funny to find at the flea market illegal merchandise proudly marked with Z’s and showing a horse in the center,” said Gabriela Guajardo, a 27 year-old designer and photographer from San Pedro Garza Garcia. “It was like, what a nerve!” Not anymore. Guajardo was forced at gunpoint to give up her SUV and all her belongings, including, her camera. She does not venture into remote and solitary places to perform her job any longer and is constantly afraid of becoming another casualty of the drug war.
“I do not know who to trust. The government says that they catch the bad guys, but we don’t know if this is true. I am afraid of police officers, because you don’t know if they’re with or against you. I don’t even turn my head to look at fellow drivers. What if they get me wrong and I’m shot?” Guajardo said. Faced with uncertainty and fear, young people in Monterrey are turning to the anonymity and real-time information advantage of social media. They tweet to inform others about shootings, closed streets and abandoned corpses. Confronted with collapsing police system, Regios turn to Twitter to protect themselves.
Mobile and Internet penetration in Mexico are high with 80 percent of the population carrying a cell phone and 30 percent connected to the internet. There are residents like Azpilcueta and Guajardo that follow @trackMTY, on the lookout for hashtags like #balacera – shooting in Spanish. Others prefer a grislier news experience and visit sites like “El Blog del Narco,” which uploads uncensored videos and information, allegedly, from drug cartels, public security personnel and citizens alike.
Mexico City, the capital and political center of the country, is not immune to insecurity. There, however, people are more likely to use Twitter about traffic ahead and not about violence. “Fortunately, we are not living the same situation as in the provinces,” said Inda Alvarado, a 32 year-old product manager from Mexico City, who last week tweeted about a shooting in the subway ironically using the hashtag #comosiestuvieraenprovincia – as if in province.
“Citizens have to feel part of the strategy in the fight against drug cartels and organized crime. We need to foster within society the use of anonymous crime reporting,” said Alejandro Rubido, the government official in charge of strategies to encourage citizen participation and crime prevention at the Mexican Public Security Secretariat.
In an interview granted in October 2010, while attending a conference at SIPA, Mr. Rubido said that even though the death toll is “unfortunate” – estimated in 35,000 by January 2011 – he believes the government of Mexico is on the right track. He highlighted the seizure of 100 tons of cocaine, 80,000 weapons, 8 million cartridges of bullets, 6,000 grenades and 447 aircrafts. Also, 330 people had been extradited to the United States. “In spite of the achievements, the perception is very important. Citizens have to feel safe,” Rubido said.
Guajardo questions the efficiency of filing complaints. When her SUV was stolen, she pressed charges, but found the police indifferent. Five days after she filed the complaint, an agent recognized her at police headquarters when she came back to follow up. The agent informed her vehicle was found. “How is it possible that no one called me?” she said. Some crime reports lead to criminals seeking revenge aided, in many cases, by those officers who received the compliant. “Generally, the media exaggerate reality and convey an image of warfare in Nuevo Leon,” said Nery Gracia, a 28 year-old graduate student at SIPA from Monterrey. “You go on with your life, but it’s ever more visible and alarming.”
In addition to the users @trackMTY and @desdelarisca, a group of citizens are constantly reporting on the situation. They report about shootings and give follow-up until the area is secure for transit. The Governor of Nuevo Leon, on the other hand, lives in neighboring Texas. “He has left the state to the drug traffickers,” Gracia said.
“Two weeks ago, I was riding in a friend’s Mercedes and we were just entering the tunnel connecting the municipalities of Monterrey to San Pedro Garza Garcia. We fell behind a black Audi SUV,” recounted Guajardo, the designer from San Pedro Garza. “All of a sudden, the Audi stopped and swirled, blocking the way. My friend hit the brakes instantly. Next thing, we saw a man in baggy jeans and a dirty cap descending from the Audi. He held an R-15 rifle. It was nerve-racking!”
The Mercedes was able to escape. At a safe distance, Guajardo tightly grabbed her blackberry and tweeted.