“I get threats here and there,” says Marentes.
Marentes started the Borderland Beat blog more than two years ago.
“It was intended to fill a voice that the media wasn't reporting,” says Marentes. “A lot of the narco cartels were targeting the media.”
Mutilated corpses, murdered people, specific names and places where cartels are doing their dirty work, his bloggers know things like who's taking over control of the plazas. You'll find all that on some of the blogs.
“How we get our information, a lot of it is translating from news that doesn’t reach out. We have people on the ground that give us info,” says Marentes.
They take great risks to be the eyes and ears.
“We had one contributor; her name was Illeana. She was very active posting a lot of information and all of a sudden she just stopped,” says Marentes.
Marentes doesn't know if Illeana is dead or alive. The cartels killed a woman last year for talking about cartel activity on a highway.
“The cartels reach deep,” says Marentes.
Not deep enough to silence Facebook, Twitter and the bloggers.
“People don’t know what’s going on over there; that’s why I do it,” says Marentes.
They know knowledge is power. They want to be the change they want to see in the world.
Marentes says some Mexican blogs act as propaganda machines for the cartels. He says he won't let that happen to his. He says he can't verify the information he's getting from the bloggers because sometimes official information doesn't exist.”
Some of the BB readers did not waste any time to chime in with concern that I had went public:
Anonymous: All I know is that with technology now a days, I wouldn’t be surprised if zetas found who there looking for. Especially targeting antizeta blogs, like this one.
DD: Buggs, Good Story!!! It shows that the initials "BB" could also refer to Big Balls. You and Sr. Marentes have them and I am proud to be able to be able to be an occasional poster on the Forum section of your website.
Anonymous: I am an American who lives in one of the border states. Borderland Beat is an invaluable source of information for people in the Frontera states to know what's really going on in Mexico. I commend all of you reporters at BB for having the courage to continue to dig out the stories and post the truth.
Anonymous: Is it wise to publish Manteras' [Marentes] name or even Illiana? Haven't you learned anything? Smh
Request for Content
Soon a full team of contributors were keeping a fast pace posting stories on the drug cartels. Some were stories translated from open sources media in Mexico, some stories were provided to us by journalists in Mexico who were afraid to post them on their media outlet, and some were stories from people on the ground with direct knowledge. I was using a Google email to solicit material or for anyone that wanted to communicate with us.
I was starting to get Mexican court legal documents of proceedings that had been requested by public sources from Mexico. I started to translate some of these documents and posting them on BB. I also took some calls from anonymous sources with tips and information, but it was hard to determine the validity of the information coming in. It was almost impossible to get confirmation on the information coming in, unless it made it on main stream media. Keeping the integrity of the project was important, we did not want to convert our blog in to another narco blog, but a source for information that had a degree of legitimacy. Boots on the ground in Mexico was extremely important, and we certainly wanted to ensure the anonymity of everyone involved for safety reasons.
We started to get a lot of videos of executions that were taken with cellular phones. There was a dilemma if we should publish these videos. I wanted people to see the extent of what some of these cartels were capable of, but I also did not want to give these animals a platform to post the graphic brutal killings. We started to be selective with our sharing of the videos. We decided that if they had a news significance value, we would post them, but we would not post some of the videos just for the sake of posting them.
Along with Borderland Beat another blog, “El Blog del Narco (BDN),” started reporting on the Mexican drug cartels and they too were getting a lot of execution videos and graphic pictures. At times, it seemed that BDN was posting gory pictures and videos to lure viewers to their blog. The pictures of people getting dismembered, people getting beheaded, we would see it all day, every day. I saw my share of these videos and they started to take their toll on me. Even today I have a vivid memory of some of the more brutal executions; they are forever embedded in my brain. I did not enjoy viewing these videos, but somehow, I felt I needed to see what was happening in Mexico so that I had knowledge of what had happened.
I remember one of the first videos was when two men were beheaded alive. On one of men they used a chain saw and on another they used a knife to cut his head off. They were shown sitting down on the ground leaning on a wall, and talking about being careful not to betray the cartel, which in this instance was the Sinaloa cartel. Soon, after we published the video, the video went viral and many downloaded it. We soon started to get information on what exactly happened, and the story behind the gruesome execution.
The Execution of Two Chapos
A video of the execution of two alleged members of the Cartel de Sinaloa was brought to my attention, but Initially I chose not to show it. Two grim looking men, whose luck ran out, are butchered while still alive in the most brutal way imaginable, "chainsaw massacre" style. Other narcoblogs have uploaded the video after we eventually made it public on BB and started making its round around the internet.
One of the men is identified as Felix Gamez Garcia, who admits to trafficking drugs to the United States and the other man is identified as Barnabas Gamez Castro, who is the uncle of the first man. Despite their bad decision to become halcones and collaborate with one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel or CDS, they are foremost human beings and no human being deserves to die in this manner.
Both men are sitting against an adobe wall, they have no shirt on, and seem renounced to their fate. They answer the questions posed to them by sicarios dressed in military uniforms, and they talk, but deep inside, they must know that no matter what they say, they will not make it out alive this time. You can hear it in their voices, worn, beaten, tired and left without hope. The hope not just to live a wealthy life as they must have thought when they joined the cartel, but now just a basic right to just live.
The men admit to working for Joaquin El Chapo Guzman himself. They describe their duties as halcones or at one time riding in the convoys when they were asked to do so. The sicarios who are holding them for nearly six minutes in the video, are the typical sicarios that have been seen in previous videos of this kind. No remorse, with a full intent of doing a job that is beyond imaginable, that when seen if you dare, it truly shocks the conscious. No one can truly say who they are, or what criminal organization they belong to, perhaps we may never know.
The uncle has a message for those who might decide to enter the dark side of the drug cartels, "Think next time you decide to give the "finger" (being a rat), think about it very carefully, because it's not easy being here, and you never return back. With these people you don't play around, the people of El Chapo are not how they say they are," he says with a broken voice.
When both men are finished talking, it’s time to pay the piper. Both men then appeared frozen in time, staring in to the distance, as if in a trance, living but already dead. Perhaps they were heavily drugged, so they didn't kick and scream during the brutal nightmare. Fear itself will not numb anyone enough to face this level of evil directly in the eye. Even the sound of the chainsaw does not break their trance.
The uncle is first; he grimaces as the chainsaw spews blood, flesh and bone, as it tears through his throat, separating his head from his body. The chainsaw accidentally cuts the arm of the nephew sitting right next to the uncle during
the violent massacre, but he doesn’t flinch.
The second man, the young nephew, is decapitated with a knife. While the knife is cutting through his throat, he makes a last attempt to scream out, but his vocal cords have been severed, and all one can hear is a faint whimpering sound, the last breath of a man that was way too young to die.
The ghastly chilling gurgling sounds coming out of his perforated windpipe, followed by the grinding sounds as the knife breaks through the spinal cord, finally frees his head from his body, ending the most repulsive, heinous and gruesome act witness on video. In a normal world one would say, wake up it’s only a dream, but this tangible, repeating itself every day somewhere in old Mexico.
The uncle, Don Gamez Castro, had said that the drug cartels did not pay much, in fact he mentioned that the last work he did for them, they paid him 300 pesos ($21 USD), not nearly enough to die for.
By the way, a BB reader posted information about the younger man, that had been arrested in Phoenix Arizona for the distribution and transporting of illicit drugs on June 17, 2011 and gave his name as Paulino Gomez-Garcia. There is a huge resemblance of the mug shot to the pictures of them in the video. Instead of serving time, he was deported back to Mexico, a life sentence.
It was later confirmed that Gomez-Garcia was in fact the same man in the execution. He had elected to be deported instead of being prosecuted, he in fact had signed his death warrant.
Guys on the forum give a good hypothesis on why he was executed. Perhaps because he had lost a load or perhaps, he gave information to authorities when he was caught in the US, or perhaps both. All good points and nice research from the BB peeps, who are usually very knowledgeable when it comes to cartel crime in Mexico.
The executions are so many that in Mexico people get desensitized to the brutal violence, it’s just another day in Mexico. For us too, watching these videos every day, it takes away a little bit of your soul, a coping mechanism used to keep us from going insane.
El Diablo
In 2012, at the peak of reporting on the violence in Mexico, we were getting a lot of execution videos by someone that went by the name of “Comandante Diablo.” He was seen executing anyone that was colluding with Los Zetas at any level. He was said to be Plaza boss of Monterrey, a strong hold of the Gulf Cartel (CDG). I posted a few of the videos, primarily to show the savagery that he was capable of. One was on May 8, 2012 titled "Sowing Terror in Ciudad Victoria."
Hooded (encapuchado) sicarios appeared in a video with a young man in the back bed of a truck. They question him, and he states that does not belong to any criminal group, but is merely a drug user.
The face of the victims reflects pure fear, at the same moment one can see the one of the hooded sicarios in a white t-shirt carrying a knife, a handgun, and a rifle on a sling.
The sicario sends a message on behalf of the King of Kings (El Rey de Reyes) and Commander Diablo (Devil). "For all those assholes that are getting involved in Victoria, the only person in command is Commander Diablo under the orders of the King of Kings," says the sicario.
The young man is forced to apologize, and continues to mention that he only buys "pot" as the sicario tells him he has his wife.
Moments later the masked men are seen leaving the victim lying on the ground on the side of the road, and one shoots the victim again with the handgun. It is apparent that they have also executed the wife of the young man and possibly more family members.
The sicrios are then seen again, this time holding another young man who is wearing a white shirt with dark stripes, he is also questioned.
This other victim is also a drug user. The sicario that is wearing the white shirt and shows the camera a bag containing small amounts of marijuana. The victim is then executed (shot in the head).
On May 15, 2012 I posted another execution video in a post titled "The Savagery of El Diablo."
On May 14, 2012 a video was uploaded on Youtube by a user with the name of "anim trent" and was immediately removed by Youtube due to its graphic violent content. The video was titled "Comandante Diablo y Rey de Reyes Acabando con los Zetas" or "Commander Diablo and King of Kings finishing Los Zetas." The video starts with a female decapitating a male while the man is still alive. The man is then dismembered. It is very hard to watch. At one point one of the sicarios carves the letter "Z" on the stomach of the victim.
Two older men are executed. One is shot before being beheaded and dismembered. The other man is beheaded while alive and the head is displayed toward the end of the video. It has not been clearly established who Commander Diablo and Rey de Reyes is, but they have targeted victims that are alleged by this group to have links to Los Zetas.
In the last two weeks a video and several pictures surfaced of members with the same exact name that executed several men, it is not certain if the events are related.
This video gives of clear cut indication of the atrocities these groups are capable of. The extent of violence from these groups that is seen on a daily basis and with multiple horrific consequences is appalling, cutting to the core of the very fabric of the Mexican society.
On July 8, 2012 BB reporter Chivis posted another article titled "Zetas Decapitate "El Diablo's" Mother, Brother, Sister and Sister In Law." This appears to be retaliation on Comandante Diablo by the Zetas who execute members of Diablo's family.
A grisly video appeared on the Mundo Narco website, of a savage Los Zetas execution of four persons.
As typical with execution videos, each captive is interviewed individually. The doomed group consisted of 3 women and 1 man. As they kneel with their hands bound behind their back, several sicarios are standing in the rear, and one who appears to be in charge is in front to the right. The sicarios are uniformed which bear a "ZETAZ" emblem.
What is far from typical in the video is the captives declare they are relatives of “El Comandante del
Diablo,” his mother, sister in law, sister, and brother. They state their name, "Banderas Padilla", Diablo's full name is said to be Hugo Alberto Banderas Padilla. After the brief period of interviewing, the heads of each, in turn, are sealed with duct tape.
A couple of the captives seem hesitant of the answers they give, it impossible to know why. Perhaps they were given a “script” before the execution, or perhaps they were naturally frightened out of their minds anticipating of what is about to happen.
"Look Comandante Diablo, here is your shit family” says the savage in command as the head taping is being conducted. The audio is permeated by the taping sounds making it difficult to define what is being said. The video quality also leaves much to be desired. However, the video is peppered with the usual threats such as, “Hey fucking Diablo, this is what happens to your people, asshole.”
After their heads are sealed, the victims are subjected to skillful blows to the back of the skull. The powerful blows are delivered with a 2x4.
Each one falls instantly after one blow from the board, and are rendered unconscious. Unconscious is exactly the best scenario when one is about to be decapitated alive.
At the videos ending a message was displayed:
“Fucking vulgar cartel, they only kill people to heat things up, they don't have balls to confront those who are in this matter.
Attn: The one who gave them the power”
If in fact the executed people are the family of El Diablo, Tamaulipas will truly become hell with the devil on a mission of vengeance.
On July 25, 2012 Chivis posted an execution video retaliating against Los Zetas titled "Diablo Confirms The Executed Were His Family-Sends Message With Decapitation Video."
The video depicts the interrogation and decapitation of at least one man who in his interrogation states he works for the Zetas cartel. The video is the work of "El Diablo” the leader of a brutal group of sicarios in the NE Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
It was two weeks ago that Zetas released an execution video that showed the decapitation of four members of Diablos family, his; mother, brothe
r, sister and sister-in-law. At the time, bloody revenge was anticipated by all that follow the Narco war. However, if one is to believe Diablos message with respect to the execution of his family, he states the executions were “not a problem," it illustrates the psychopathic nature of the man known for his exceptionally monstrous executions.
This execution is of a "halcon" Halcones (Hawks) are lookouts for organized crime organizations. They are hired to follow the movements of the police agencies and military. They are at the bottom of the organizational order. Often Halcones are teens. For sicarios (hit men) to capture a halcon for execution is an easy feat, far from hiding, their jobs require they are out in the open and they are easy to spot.
It would seem such a pitiful statement to the brutal execution of his family, as to pick up a lowly halcon, and execute him to send a message. In this case however, though the victim says he is a halcon, he also states he is the brother of a Zetas sicario, one that his executioner refers to in the video as "El Pelon".
The video is of very poor quality, however it has enough clarity to know the execution was brutal. The sicarios used a large folding saw to behead the man, he was subjected to the severing and removal of his tongue prior to being decapitated.
The video was filmed in Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas
The video begins with the message in the photo above which reads:
Ya chingaron a mi familia no hay pedo todos sabemos en lo que andamos.
Van a llorar sangre vamos a ver quien es mas verga culeros y los va llevar la verga a todos los mugrosos "Z" con todo y familia ya me lo hicieron a mi ahorra va la mia.
Translation:
"You already fucked my family up but no problem we all know what we are into. You will cry blood and we'll see who's more of a badass fucking asshole and all the dirty motherfuckers "Z" are gonna get fucked up along with all their families you already did to me so now it’s my turn."
Borderland Beat Page 7