Citizen Journalists in Mexico Risking Death to Expose Cartels, Corruption and Media Blackout

REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — In a city overrun by drug cartels, shootouts, kidnappings, extortion, and executions, a group of citizen journalists continues to shed light into what local media will not report and on what Mexican officials continue to deny: the extent of cartel violence and the corruption of officials in the Mexican government...

Information and photographs about the de facto war-zone immediately south of the Texas border are consistently revealed by “Chuy.” He covers the cartel insurgency and their convoys of gunmen carrying automatic weapons, grenades and rocket launchers. He covers the frequent clashing of cartels with their rivals and with authorities in broad daylight and throughout the night.

Twitter users in the region rallied in 2010 when the Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers known as the Zetas went to war and set off a series of brutal firefights and blockades. The fights continue to this day...

While working to remain anonymous, the type of information that citizen journalists gather makes them an immediate target for reprisal. In recent days, Chuy has been subjected to an even greater amount of direct threats with harassment through social media and outside...

CAIRCO Notes

Illegal aliens and drugs are snuck across the US border by organized Mexican drug cartels, who have established inroads - and residences - in the U.S.