A female blogger reported killed by drug cartel henchmen may have been murdered for using Twitter to decry cartel activity in the Mexican city of Reynosa, located directly across the southwest border from McAllen, Texas.
Dr. Maria del Rosario Fuentes Rubio had been criticizing drug cartels in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, on social networking sites before she was kidnapped and allegedly murdered, confirmed BBC’s Spanish-language news service, BBC Mundo, on Oct. 26, after Breitbart News first reported the murder.
Tamaulipas is considered one of the most violent states in Mexico, adding that drug cartels have silenced traditional news outlets there.
The story of Dr. Fuentes Rubio’s murder first appeared on Breitbart News, who broke the story that officials had found her body on October 16. Officials then told Breitbart News that “they are not only looking at social media but also at her work as a doctor and acquaintances before determining the motive for the murder.”
Her Twitter account was used to tweet her murder and warn other bloggers against denouncing drug cartels on social media sites. “#reynosafollow close your accounts, do not risk your families as I did, I apologize,” reportedly stated a message written in Spanish on her Twitter account, @miut13 Felina.
The message, posted hours after Fuentes Rubio was allegedly kidnapped outside a mall on Oct. 15, was followed by two photos of a woman. In one she was looking at the camera, and in the other, she appeared to be dead, BBC Mundo reported.
Nothing else has been heard from the woman, and her Twitter account was closed, added the UK-based news outlet.
The Tamaulipas attorney general’s office said it is investigating the disappearance and “alleged murder” of Fuentes Rubio and confirmed that she was kidnapped outside a mall at noon on Oct. 15, stated BBC Mundo on Oct. 17.
The kidnapping was reported by the victim’s husband.