Three suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Mexican musicians in Tamaulipas state along the Texas border were arrested during a series of raids, officials said on Monday.
The five members of local band Fugitivo had been hired for a weekend performance in the crime-wracked northeastern city of Reynosa, but arrived to find a vacant lot. Their bodies were found several days later after their families reported receiving ransom demands.
“An operation was carried out on three properties” in Reynosa, the public security office said in a statement, adding that the three suspects had been arrested there.
Investigators said the musicians had been kidnapped on May 25 while driving to a private event. Nine alleged cartel members were arrested last week, with authorities announcing another sting on Monday.
Prosecutors said the nine people arrested last week were believed to be part of a faction of the Gulf Cartel, which has strong presence in the city, but they did not indicate if the three new suspects arrested had the same links.
During the newest operation, weapons, weapons cartridges, cocaine and methamphetamines were also seized, the ministry added.
Stringer / REUTERS
Reynosa is a Mexican border city adjacent to the United States and has been plagued by escalating violence since 2017 due to internal disputes among groups vying for control of drug trafficking, human smuggling and fuel theft.
The U.S. State Department has revoked visas of a number of Mexican musicians for playing music that it says glorifies cartel violence. Last week, the popular Mexican regional music band Grupo Firme announced that it was canceling a performance in a music festival in California after the United States government suspended the musicians’ visas.
In April, the U.S. State Department revoked the visas of members of the band Los Alegres del Barranco after they projected the face of a drug cartel boss onto a large screen during a performance.
Musicians targeted in Mexico
Mexican regional music, which encapsulates a wide range of styles including corridos and cumbia, has in recent years gained a spotlight as it’s entered a sort of international musical renaissance. Young artists sometimes pay homage to leaders of drug cartels, often portrayed as Robin Hood-type figures.
It was not immediately clear if Fugitivo played such songs or if the artists were simply victims of rampant cartel violence that has eclipsed the city.
Mexican musicians have previously been targeted by criminal groups that pay them to compose and perform songs that glorify the exploits of their leaders.
Such performers often live in close proximity to their drug lord patrons, and can at times get caught up in gang turf battles.
“Narcocorridos” are a controversial sub-genre of music in Mexico, and the songs have caught the attention of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who recently launched a music contest “for peace and against addictions,” seeking to counter the popularity of the music among young people in Mexico and the United States.
Several regions in the country have banned “narcocorridos,” sparking a recent riot during a concert after a singer refused to perform some of his most popular songs.
In January this year, a small plane was reported to have dropped pamphlets on a northwestern city threatening around 20 music artists and influencers for alleged dealings with a warring faction of the Sinaloa drug cartel.
In 2018, armed men kidnapped two members of the musical group “Los Norteños de Río Bravo,” whose bodies were later found on the federal highway connecting Reynosa to Río Bravo, Tamaulipas.
In 2013, 17 musicians from the group Kombo Kolombia were executed by alleged cartel members in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon, allegedly because of links to a rival gang.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
