Hacktivist group Anonymous continues its policy of confrontation after it threatened to expose the identities and allies of Mexico’s Los Zetas drug cartel.
The threat came in a video posted online in both English and Spanish.
In the video, a masked man threatened the drug cartel with exposure after it said that one of its Anonymous members, had been kidnapped during a “paper storm” event in the coastal city of Veracruz in Mexico. The paper storm event could be in reference to a poster campaign by supporters of Wikileaks and Julian Assange.
The masked man said that Anonymous is “fed up with the criminal group the Zetas, which has concentrated on kidnapping, stealing and blackmailing in different ways.”
The message also said Anonymous knows of police officers, journalists, taxi drivers and others working with the Zetas, and threatened to publish their identities (photos, names and addresses) to see if the government will “arrest them”.
“You have made a huge mistake by taking one of us. Release him,” the video concluded. “If anything happens to him you will always remember this upcoming 5 November.”
Certain parts of Mexico are dealing with the affects of the drug trade, which is claiming lives on the both soldiers and police officers, as well as the gang members and of course innocent civilians.
Of course it is difficult to verify the authenticity of the video, and whether Anonymous is actually behind it. The video certainly does not mention the name of the alleged kidnap victim. And there does not seem to be any mention of it on the Anonymous blog page.
And some on Twitter are openly dismissing the kidnapping claim.
“After much research, I confidently confirm the anonymous kidnapping story to be a hoax. #opcartel,” tweeted mach2600.
However LulzPirate claimed on Twitter that “#OpCartel – The dice are already rolling. The first strike will be made within a few hours.”
Anonymous last week revealed that it had ‘taken down’ over forty child pornography websites. It also said that it had published the details of 1,589 alleged paedophiles that it claims were involved in the trading of images of child sex abuse.
Despite scepticism that the group is behind the drug cartel video, it is worth noting that the group has previously targeted police forces in the United States and Europe, as well as defence contractors and even NATO.
The group has also previously taken on governments and nation states, such as Iran, Zimbabwe and Tunisia.
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Drug Cartels Ignorant? I often wonder about the mentality of these Drug Lords and Dictators across the World. Their vary actions bring to their door step the hatred of their government and the people. Those actions also bring to their door step the military and the billions of dollars of support from countries like the United States. Now why would any businessman, drug or otherwise, intentionally bring such a war upon themselves? If an individual like Mr. Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera is intelligent enough to build his drug empire into a multibillion dollar business, he certainly should be intelligent enough to know there is a better way to protect and grow his business than his current methods.
The Drug Cartel’s past and present business model is what brought to their door step the hatred and actions of their own people, their government and the investment of billions of dollars and the military by the United States government! Why not change the business model to take advantage of the current state of domestic affairs in a way that benefits the Cartels, the people and the government, which will also rid them of the involvement of the United States in their affairs? Use the same man power, capital and alliances to bring about a change of support and unity. As a consultant I can say that the solution is at hand and can be implemented quickly and effectively. Google the poster with Mr. Ted Hallett.
I understood that the Cartels are in business to make money! Why are they not focused on that end in mind? Why do they allow themselves to be sucked into this war, that more that likely was/is manipulated by an outside influence? Where are these Cartel Bosses? Why do they not learn from past mistakes to perfect their business model? I am beginning to think they are merely fabricated caricatures and scapegoats used by agencies to further multiple ulterior motives. Are there really Drug Lords and Cartel Bosses out there? I wonder. You certainly never hear from them! If there are, you would think they would be smart enough to change things. thegardenmasterqc@gmail.com