Mexican drug traffickers wage PR war over image
MARISA TAYLOR:
In Mexico, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo is feared and reviled as the godfather of Mexico's cocaine trade. On his Web site, however, he's portrayed as a family man and a savvy business tycoon.
Yes, the drug kingpin known as "El Padrino" has his own Web site. He launched the site in June with the help of his family, even though he doesn't have Internet access from his cell in one of Mexico's highest-security prisons.
Mexican law-enforcement officials said that such a PR effort by one of the nation's most infamous traffickers wasn't surprising anymore. Lately, traffickers are turning to propaganda in inventive and often menacing ways, officials said. Although Mexico's drug cartels have long operated in the shadows, some traffickers or their associates now publicly advertise jobs, sponsor folksongs to sing their own praises and post videos or music online as tributes to leaders or to threaten enemies.
The reason for the sudden outspokenness by the usually secretive figures is unclear. Law enforcement officials think that traffickers are lashing out at the government because a crackdown by President Felipe Calderon's administration is pressuring drug cartels as never before. Others think the phenomenon shows that the traffickers see the government as weak enough to challenge directly. READ IT ALL
