Citizen groups in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas reported yesterday that Twitter user María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio had been kidnapped and murdered. Although it is unknown who was responsible for her death, photographs of Fuentes Rubio's body appeared on her Twitter stream.
Her Twitter account @Miut3 was suspended shortly thereafter. After María del Rosario supposedly asked for forgiveness for facing the drug lords, photos of her own murder were published, as well as a posthumous message that warned other citizen journalists to remain quiet about Reyonsa's violence because “you won’t get anything out of it.”
A Reynosa medical doctor, Fuentes Rubio volunteered as a contributor with Valor por Tamaulipas (Courage for Tamaulipas), a citizen media platform that allows users to file anonymous reports on violence, particularly incidents concerning organized crime and the drug trade. She also served as an administrator for Responsabilidad por Tamaulipas (Responsibility for Tamaulipas), a similar project associated with the first. The last post by “Valor for Tamaulipas” described her as “an angel who gave everything, her life, her future, her safety and peace (…) for the good of the people of the state.”
This is not the first time individuals associated with these networks have been punished for their reporting. Since it was established in 2012, Valor por Tamaulipas has faced a range of threats and incidents of violence that at times have forced administrators to pause their activities.
Valor por Tamaulipas has been using social media to crowdsource reports from citizens in the state of Tamaulipas, which has been riddled with drug-related conflict and corruption since 2006. In February of 2013, an unidentified drug organization circulated a pamphlet offering MX$600,000 (about US$44,000) for information on the whereabouts of the administrator(s) of the Valor por Tamaulipas social media accounts. Shortly afterwards, @ValorTamaulipas announced plans to suspend reporting. But the network has since taken shape once more — violent crime continues to plague Tamaulipas and citizens continue to report on it.
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