In the U.S. we often poke fun at the culture of online government surveillance and Big Brother, but in Mexico the reality can be much more openly bleak and nothing to joke about. A 36-year-old Mexican YouTuber known onscreen as Nana Pelucas was shot to death by cartel members in the restaurant she owned. According to a state prosecutor, she was murdered for divulging information about the cartels in her videos.
As the Associated Press reports, Guerrero state chief prosecutor Xavier Olea said Leslie Ann Pamela Montenegro, as she was known in real life, was threatened by the leader of a drug gang formerly affiliated with the Independent Cartel of Acapulco. The YouTuber “used a big wig and glasses to deliver chatty comic commentary and criticisms, some concerning the local government,” as per the AP.
Montenegro has her own channel on YouTube called El Sillón TV. Olea also said Montenegro had been threatened by a corrupt government official with ties to the cartel. Reportedly, she had been accused of being a government informant and making anonymous online comments about the drug gang.
Even more disturbing is the fact that this isn’t the first time the cartel has targeted social media influencers; the gang leaders are unexpectedly active on various platforms. In December, another YouTuber, 17-year-old Juan Luis Laguna Rosales, was found shot to death with over 12 bullet holes in his body, soon after posting a video where he said infamous gang leader El Mencho “can suck my dick.” El Mencho heads the New Generation Cartel in Jalisco.
