MexicoLos Zetas decapitate blogger

Last week the Los Zetas drug cartel sent a gruesome message to hackers by decapitating a Mexican blogger and dumping his body in public.

Mexican authorities discovered the body beside the statue of Christopher Columbus outside the town of Nuevo Laredo, near the Texas border. Los Zetas left a message on a blanket next to the body that read, “This happened to me because I didn’t understand I shouldn’t post things on social networks.”

The victim, known by his handle “El Rascatripas” or “The Fiddler,” is believed to have been the moderator of a local social networking site called Nuevo Laredo en Vivo.

The cartel has taken to targeting online activists who have been using social media to report on gang activities or criticize local drug lords. The latest murder was the fourth of its kind.

In September a man and a woman were found disemboweled and hung from an overpass for posting online about the cartel, while several weeks later a moderator of Nuevo Laredo en Vivo was also found murdered.

Additionally, Los Zetas recently concluded its high-profile confrontation with the hacking group known as Anonymous.

The cartel was believed to have kidnapped an unidentified Anonymous member and in response the hackers threatened to release the details of seventy-five cartel collaborators that they had discovered from 25,000 hacked Mexican government emails.

The cartel ultimately released the kidnapped member unharmed, but threatened to kill ten people for every one of its associates identified.

The exact details of the confrontation remain unclear as some members of Anonymous allege that the kidnapping never occurred.

Regardless of the details, Anonymous has chosen to back down from “Operation Cartel,” and Barrett Brown, a spokesman for the group is said to be in hiding after outing a U.S. district attorney believed to be working for Los Zetas.