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2 Mexicans deny terrorism, face 30 years for tweet
San Antonio Express News ^ | 4 September 2011 | Mark Stevenson

Posted on 09/05/2011 5:18:02 AM PDT by Racehorse

Think before you tweet.

A former teacher turned radio commentator and a math tutor who lives with his mother sit in a prison in southern Mexico, facing possible 30-year sentences for terrorism and sabotage in what may be the most serious charges ever brought against anyone using a Twitter social network account.

Prosecutors say the defendants helped cause a chaos of car crashes and panic as parents in the Gulf Coast city of Veracruz rushed to save their children because of false reports that gunmen were attacking schools.

[. . .]

The charges say the messages caused such panic that emergency numbers "totally collapsed because people were terrified," damaging service for real emergencies.

Veracruz, the state's largest city, and the neighboring suburb of Boca del Rio were already on edge after weeks of gunbattles involving drug traffickers. One attack occurred on a major boulevard. In another, gunmen tossed a grenade outside the city aquarium, killing an tourist and seriously wounding his wife and their two young children.

On Aug. 25, nerves were further frayed when residents saw armed convoys of marines circulating on the streets, making some think a confrontation with gangs was imminent.

That is when Gilberto Martinez Vera, who works as a low-paid tutor at several private schools, allegedly opened the floodgates of fear with repeated messages that gunmen were taking children from schools.

"My sister-in-law just called me all upset, they just kidnapped five children from the school," Martinez tweeted.

In fact, no such kidnappings occurred that day. Defense lawyer Claribel Guevara said the rumors already had started and that Martinez Vera was just relaying what others told him. She said he never claimed to have firsthand knowledge of the incident.

(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cartels; terror; twitter

1 posted on 09/05/2011 5:18:04 AM PDT by Racehorse
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To: Racehorse

Tweet,Tweet!


2 posted on 09/05/2011 5:29:30 AM PDT by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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To: Racehorse

like Holder...the 3rd world Mehicans attack people like these losers while the drug gangs and terrorist run free and laugh it up...


3 posted on 09/05/2011 5:38:25 AM PDT by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Racehorse.
A former teacher turned radio commentator and a math tutor who lives with his mother sit in a prison in southern Mexico, facing possible 30-year sentences for terrorism and sabotage... Prosecutors say the defendants helped cause a chaos of car crashes and panic as parents in the Gulf Coast city of Veracruz rushed to save their children because of false reports that gunmen were attacking schools... Veracruz, the state's largest city, and the neighboring suburb of Boca del Rio were already on edge after weeks of gunbattles involving drug traffickers. One attack occurred on a major boulevard. In another, gunmen tossed a grenade outside the city aquarium, killing an tourist and seriously wounding his wife and their two young children.
Any word on the drug traffickers? Grenade throwers? Oh wait, here's someone we know how to find who did something stupid...


4 posted on 09/05/2011 6:05:14 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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