Mexico City – The United States Department of State revoked the visas of members of a Mexican band after they project the face of a drug cartel chief on a large screen during a performance in the western state of Jalisco during the weekend.
Secretary of State of the United States, Christopher Landau, who was United States Ambassador to Mexico During Trump’s first administration, he said Tuesday night in X that the work and tourism visas of the members of the Barranco’s cheerful were revoked.
The visas revocations follow a generalized indignation in Mexico about the concert, since prosecutors in two states have launched research on projected images, and a broader national recognition on how to address the emergence of a popular musical genre criticized by romantizing drug cartels.
“I firmly believe in freedom of expression, but that does not mean that the expression must be free of consequences,” Landau wrote in X. “The last thing we need is a welcome sterer for people who extol criminals and terrorists.”
The controversy broke out during the weekend when the face of Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cape Over Flames was projected behind the band, originally from Sinaloa, during the concert. There was the point of view between the band, concert producers and the place.
Osguera is the leader of the Jalisco New Generation posterThat has been connected to a ranch, the authorities, as used to train posters recruits and possibly get rid of bodies in Jalisco, where search engines found fragments of human bones, lots of clothing and shoes.
The Jalisco poster is among other criminal groups in Mexico that They have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
While the image was received by applause during the concert, Jalisco’s prosecutors quickly announced that they were summoning the band to testify in an investigation into whether they were promoting violence, a crime that could result in a penalty of up to six months in prison. The state of Michoacán also announced an investigation into the cheerful of the Barranco for projecting the same images during a concert in the city of Uruapan.
The governor of Jalisco, Pablo Lemus, said that the State would prohibit the musical actions that glorify violence, adding that the offenders “would face monetary and criminal sanctions.”
“We know that indignation is not enough,” said Lemus. “Of course it is possible to prohibit (music).”
Since then, several of the band’s future shows have been canceled, the government of a city saying that the program “did not have the necessary municipal permits” to carry out the performance.
Pavel Moreno, the band’s accordion and the support singer, did not answer the questions of the fans who asked if their visa had been revoked, simply thanking them for support and saying that “everything is fine.”
The band was scheduled to play in Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 4. While the event has not been publicly canceled, ticket sales websites said: “There are no tickets available for now” for that date.
The dispute coincides with a broader cultural debate in Mexico as artists such as Pen weightGoverned force and Natanael Cano accompany a Global Renaissance of Mexican Regional MusicMixing classic ballads with trap music. In 2023, weight weight beat Taylor as the most transmitted artist on YouTube.
Many of the artists now head the lists have been fierce because their lyrics often paint the leaders of the posters as Figures in the style Robin Hood. Others say that the genre, known as “narco runs,” expresses the harsh realities of many young people throughout Mexico.
Several Mexican states have prohibited public performances of music in recent years, the most recent is the state of Nayarit in February. Some of the prohibitions have arrived since famous artists have received death threats from the posters, which forced several of them to cancel their actions.
Others, including President of Mexico Claudia SheinbaumThey have sought a less aggressive approach to address gender. Sheinbaum, who has come out against censoring music, has suggested instead that the Mexican government promotes initiatives that promote Mexican regional music with more socially acceptable lyrics.
The Mexican leader hardened his language on the subject after the concert of the cheerful of the ravine. In his morning news conference this week, Sheinbaum demanded an investigation into the concert and said: “Violence or criminal groups cannot be justified.”
____
Follow the AP coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean in https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
