Online hacktivist group Anonymous has issued an ultimatum to the vicious Mexican drug cartel The Zetas. According to a video released on YouTube, the hacker group is demanding the release of one of its members who has been kidnapped by the cartel. The Zetas are responsible for thousands of deaths and kidnappings in an effort to increase and secure its operating territory.
The video, released over the weekend, threatens to publish the names and addresses of cartel members and the police officers, political officials, and journalists who are on their payroll. Anonymous claims that cartel members kidnapped one of their members after a political march, but they did not reveal the identity of the victim in the video. The group threatened to expose the gang at every level of its operations; making it impossible for the cartel to operate.
At least one retired DEA official thinks that the threat to The Zetas is credible. Mike Vigil notes that exposing gang members will enable rival gangs to target Zeta members. However, Anonymous is certainly taking on a formidable opponent and will be interesting to see of they can achieve the release of their operative. Here is the video:
Here is a rough translation from the YouTube page:
Anonymous from Veracruz, Mexico, and the world, we want you to know that a member has been kidnapped when he was doing #OpPaperstorm in our city.
We demand his release. We want the army and the navy to know that we are fed up of the criminal group Zetas, who have concentrated on kidnapping, stealing and blackmailing in different ways. One of them is charging? every honest and hardworking citizen of Veracruz who busts their rears working day after day to feed their families.
We are fed up of journalists and newspapers of Xalapa, Córdoba and Orizaba because they are constantly crapping on honest authorities like the army and the navy.
We are fed up with taxi drivers, commanders and “police-zetas” officers of Xalapa, Córdoba, Orizaba, Nogales, Río Blanco and Camerinos… who are chickens and have made themselves the most loyal servants of these (expletive).
For the time being, we won’t post photos or the names … of the taxi drivers, the journalists or the newspapers nor of the police officers, but if needed, we will publish them including their addresses, to see if by doing so the government will arrest them.
We can’t defend ourselves with a weapon, but if we can do this with their cars, houses, bars, brothels and everything else in their possession … It won’t be difficult. We all know who they are and where they are.
You made a huge mistake by taking one of us. Release him. And if anything happens to him, you (expletive) will always remember this upcoming? November 5th .
Knowledge is free. We are Anonymous. We are a legion. We don’t forgive. We don’t forget. Expect us.
Image via Wikipedia.
