Mexico Mourns Casino Royale Victims on Twitter · Global Voices
Issa Villarreal

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.
On the afternoon of August 25, an armed squad attacked and set fire to a casino by the name of Royale, while the location remained quite populated. This incident, part of the violence related to the organized crime that batters Monterrey and Mexico in general, resulted in a tragic number of 52 deaths.
According to the newspaper Milenio [es], 35 of the victims were adult, elderly women. The majority of the victims passed away intoxicated. During preliminary investigations, police discovered that the casino did not have adequate emergency exits (according to a number of witnesses, as El Universal published [es]). Additionally, the casino operated illegally and had been closed down on a prior occasion, per Milenio [es].
The Mexican presidency has declared a national mourning [es] for the Casino Royale tragedy.
National mourning for Casino Royale.  Photo from the Federal Government.  (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Despite the presence of the army, as well as the continuous operatives and investigative work, in 2011 the violence has escalated to new levels in Monterrey, a city known as the country's capital of industry and technology. The attacks in populated spaces have considerably increased: it is worth mentioning the attack on the Sabino Gordo bar that resulted in over than 20 victims [es], along with that of Café Iguana, a bar that hosted rock concerts, where four people were murdered [es] after a squad opened fire from the streets.
Casino Royale is located in one of the most heavily populated areas in the city, where three large avenues converge. The first actions following the Casino Royale attack and fire consisted of controlling the fire, ensuring the building's structure (which partially collapsed a day later) remained intact, and begin rescuing bodies.
During this period of uncertainty, many family members and friends looked for the victims through all means of communication, including Twitter, as we show below.
NFL commentator Fernando Von Rossum (@fvonrossum) was one of the first to post that a relative of his was present at Casino Royale [es]:
Con profunda tristeza les comparto que entre las desaparecidas se encuentra mi tia Carmen Martinez Von Rossum en el #CasinoRoyale
A few hours later, Von Rossum confirmed her death [es]:
Lamento confirmarles la muerte de mi tia Ma Carmen M de Von Rossum en el ataque al #casinoRoyale Agradeceremos sus Oraciones #DiosBendicenos
Some users posted the names of their lost family members, turning to citizen reporters like Ana Rent (@AnaRent), dedicated to spreading timely information on precaution and assistance with respect to the violence in Monterrey. They also supported #mtyfollow, a hashtag commonly used by citizens to mutually share information on the attacks, crashes, assaults and whatever other type of risk-related situation. Edward Alexander (@Edward_Black) published the following [es]:
Aún nada de noticias sobre Jose Jaime Fuentes Oviedo. Por favor pasen este tweet. @AnaRent gracias de antemano. #mtyfollow #CasinoRoyale :/
User @MissPalomo also searched for a victim [es]:
Por favor si alguien sabe algo de Jenny Garcia Toledano,23 años, complexión delgada, cabello castaño obscuro. #casinoroyale #mtysos @Cicmty
One of the victims had begun working in Casino Royale that day, commented Adriana Navarro (@AdyNavarro) [es]:
@AnaRent identificamos a Ruben morales castillo, si fallecio, el viernes lo velaremos, tenia 19 años y era su primer dia en ese trabajo :(
In some cases, the results were positive. P. Odette Ledesma(@odetteledesma) posted [es]:
Ramiro de la Garza. 18 años de edad desaparecido en su primera salida a un casino, #casinoroyale. @losqueremovivos #tienennombre
Almost 12 hours later, the user posted an update [es]:
Ya aparecio Ramiro de la Garza con vida! Ojala y encuentren a mas personas…
Through Twitter, people shared methods of contact for those who had first hand information on Casino Royale, as in the case of Lorena de la Garza (@lorenadelagarza), who shared a phone number through her Twitter account [es]:
Me pasan por bb el tel de una persona que vió a la sra nora elia ortegón gzz. [# teléfono] plis RT p quien la busca #casinoroyale
Twitter users’ condolences have appeared over the course of the last few days, showing a mix of desperation, profound sadness, and a helplessness as a result of the insufficient work of the three governmental levels to control the violence in the country. User Ana Díaz (@MiViros) comments [es]:
El cielo #mty gris como este día, tristeza muerte personas #casino royale responsables la violencia y negligencia falta salidas emergencia
User @ELYTIGRE35 also comments [es]:
QUE TRISTEZA LO QUE PASO HOY EN EL #CASINO ROYALE NO HAY PALABRAS PARA TAN GRAN DOLOR HOY PERDI A UNA AMADA SRA. EN ESE LUGAR
The “they have a name” (@Tienennombre) Twitter campaign opposed the use of the number “50 thousand” to refer to the victims of the war against drug trafficking in Mexico and proposes to mention all of the victims by name. One day after Casino Royale, they began spreading the names of the victims [es]:
Petra Bustos Vázquez. Víctima del ataque al Casino Royale, Monterrey, N.L. 25/08/11 #NoSonCifras #TienenNombre #Mty
The complete list of the casualties in Casino Royale was published in the local press, as well as in newspapers Milenio [es] and El Norte [es].  Some victims still remain unidentified. The collection of tweets from the search for Casino Royale victims can be found on this Storify list [es].
This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.