Guns, cash, trucks and smiles - a day in the life of a Mexican drug cartel.
Scores of pictures posted to Facebook by cartel members on both official cartel pages and personal pages, many with massive quantities of drugs, firearms and bizarre selfies, promote the cartel lifestyle.
First reported by Vice, the pages are public and show the dangerous and strange side of cartels.
More guns: Cartel members love to show off their guns
He loves the camera: This cartel member has a plethora of selfies
As quickly as pages are deactivated by Facebook, they reappear with the same song and dance – drugs and guns, girls and trucks.
Cartels have also begun to use social media to promote a more positive image, according to an analyst that spoke with the site.
‘They advertise their activities, they conduct public relations initiatives, and they have basically turned themselves into their own media company,’ said Antoine Nouvet.
These pictures broadcast the drug cartel lifestyle to a captive audience, Mr Nouvet argued, which also helps the gangs’ recruiting efforts.
Fill'er up!: This SUV is packed ceiling to roof with marijuana
Locked and loaded: Cartel members show off their fancy firearms, including this one made of gold
He's a lover and a fighter: Cartel members switch effortlessly between hugging women and firearms
Serious firepower: The most prolific of the Broly Banderas posters is holding what looks like an RGP launcher
Ready for war: The cartels are armed to the teeth
It also helps in the public arena – by broadcasting a positive persona, the cartels can attempt to argue they are not as bad as authorities claim.
A video showing the Gulf Cartel providing relief in the form of food, water and other aid to locals devastated by Hurricane Ingrid has nearly 500,000 views.
An august diatribe by ‘La Tuta,’ the leader of the Knights of Templar cartel has almost 1million views on YouTube.
By comparison, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s State of the Union address has less than 16,000 views.
A now-banned Facebook page run by the Caballeros Templarios was advertised as a small business and had more than 10,000 likes before it was taken down, Vice noted. In its place has sprung up the profile of Broly, a prominent member of the gang with an insatiable appetite for selfies.
Girls just wanna have fun: Not content to let the men get all the action, these ladies suit up
Ready to go: Some people may see the endless supply of cash and guns as glamorous, they are part of the cartels' target audience
Loaded: Many cartel pictures just show piles of cash
Cartel selfies: The Broly Banderas show off yet another firearm
Broly, the most prominent member on social media, has a bizarre cadre of selfies with guns or pouting or pouting with guns.
Also uncovered by MailOnline is the prolific use of file photos meant to make the cartel life look more dramatic.
Many pictures of massive firearms, men with ski masks, ski mask-wearing snipers with massive firearms and others, all turned up as stock images.
Does it get any better?: Guns, cash, funs and smiles - the life of Mexican drug cartel
Who ya gonna call: The Broly Banderas mug for the camera
Armed to the teeth: Mexican drug cartels appear to have a limitless supply of guns and ammo
Cash money: The cartels have as much money as they do guns - which means they have a lot of both
The cartels are using file photos of highly trained military personnel to either strike fear into adversaries or to brag to their less internet savvy admirers.
Despite employing an army of analysts and computer engineers – either paid or against their will, according to Vice – their embrace of social media will likely lead to their downfall, Mr Nouvet told Vice
‘Technology that benefits the cartels suddenly turns out to be one of their key vulnerabilities,’ said the expert, ‘And that could be the case in Mexico if the government adopts better skills and laws to counter them in cyberspace.’
Until then, a look into the strange life of a Mexican drug cartel is there for all to see.
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