Popular band fined $36,000 for glorifying drug cartels

A popular Mexican band has been fined more than $36,000 for performing songs glorifying drug cartels, authorities in the northern city of Chihuahua announced Wednesday.

At a Los Tucanes de Tijuana performance on Saturday, nearly a third of their songs were "narcocorridos" glamorizing drug traffickers, according to city official Pedro Oliva.

The songs "glorified crime or alluded to the perpetrators of illegal acts," Oliva said in a television interview.

Los Tucanes were banned from performing in their home city Tijuana from 2008 to 2023 for alleged shoutouts to two drug traffickers during a concert.

Several states across the country have imposed restrictions on the controversial subgenre of regional music, which is growing rapidly, even beyond Mexico's borders. In April, the ban sparked a riot during a concert after a singer refused to perform some of his most popular songs.

Peso Pluma, who blends corridos with rap and hip-hop, was the seventh most-streamed artist in the world in 2024, according to Spotify.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected the idea of banning "narcocorridos," preferring to launch a music competition "for peace and against addictions" to counter the influence of drug culture among young people.

Two months ago, the United States revoked the visas of the band Los Alegres del Barranco for showing images of a wanted drug lord during a concert.

"I'm a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that doesn't mean that expression should be free of consequences," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said at the time. "The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists."

At the end of May, members of Grupo Firme canceled a concert in the United States, saying their visas were under "administrative review" by the U..S embassy.

Musicians in Mexico sometimes get caught up in cartel violence themselves. Last month, the bodies of five Mexican musicians from the band Grupo Fugitivo, were found in Reynosa along the Texas border. At least nine alleged cartel members were arrested and later drugs and weapons were seized in connection to the murders.

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.

• Drug Cartels
• Mexico
• Cartel