An anonymous, twentysomething blogger is giving Mexicans what they can't get elsewhere - an inside view of their country's raging drug war.

Operating from behind a thick curtain of computer security, Blog del Narco in less than six months has become Mexico's go-to Internet site at a time when mainstream media are feeling pressure and threats to stay away from the story.

Many postings, including warnings and a beheading, appear to come directly from drug traffickers. Others depict crime scenes accessible only to military or police.

seattletimes.nwsource.com
blogdelnarco.com
translate.google.com

GIVE MEXICAN President Felipe Calder?n credit for honesty as well as courage. Last week he presided over a three-day public conference to assess the results of nearly four years of war against Mexico's drug cartels. Most of the facts were grim:

-- According to the chief of the national intelligence service, 28,000 people have died violently since Mr. Calder?n deployed the Mexican army against the drug gangs in December 2006. That number represents an increase of 3,000 over the death toll the government reported earlier this summer.

washingtonpost.com

Die Stuttgarter Staatsanwaltschaft geht nach Informationen des SPIEGEL einer Anzeige nach, derzufolge der Waffenhersteller Heckler & Koch gezielt illegal Gewehre in mexikanische Unruheprovinzen lieferte. Das Unternehmen nennt den Vorwurf absurd.

Der Oberndorfer Waffenhersteller Heckler & Koch soll ab 2006 illegal G36-Gewehre in mexikanische Unruheprovinzen geliefert haben. "Es laufen Ermittlungen gegen Verantwortliche der Firma", bestätigt ein Sprecher der Staatsanwaltschaft Stuttgart, derzeit werde die Genehmigungslage geprüft. Das Zollkriminalamt wurde ebenfalls eingeschaltet.

spiegel.de