Who Is Behind All The Threats Against Narco-Corridos Singers In Tijuana?
Cartels, authorities and the same music industry are fighting each other for the hearts and ears of Tijuana residents
TIJUANA, México.— “Don’t show up on Oct. 14 because it will be your last performance,” read the banners, allegedly signed by a cartel in Tijuana against breakout artist Peso Pluma. The concert was of course canceled, but the threats against others didn’t stop. Mexican regional musician Larry Hernández got unexploded grenades as a threat to stop him from performing. Sinaloan singer Panter Bélico got shots fired at an autograph signing event before his concert.
Authorities in Baja California, where Tijuana sits, blame of course the different criminal organizations currently operating out of the border city. But the truth as to who is behind the threats could be much more complex.
I spoke with promoters, musicians, authorities and drug traffickers in Tijuana to find why and who is threatening all these narco-corrido singers.
Tijuana has today three main criminal organizations battling for the profitable businesses of drug and human smuggling, and the local drugs market.
The legacy cartel in Tijuana is the Arellano Felix cartel, also known as the Tijuana cartel or CAF (Cartel Arellano Felix), a family operated organization born in the 80s. Almost since then, its main rival has been the Sinaloa Cartel. And more recently the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) also began operating in the city, mostly through a local gang.
This dynamic has created a turf war in Tijuana that the local government alleges is also behind the threats against artists who sing about the different criminal organizations. Peso Pluma is known for singing about Los Chapitos, the sons of El Chapo Guzmán, and their faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Panter Bélico almost exclusively sings to mythical Sinaloan ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, while others sing to all of the different cartels, including CJNG.
To add to the mix, Tijuana’s mayor, Montserrat Caballero, banned artists from singing narco-corridos in the city, alleging these types of songs entice younger generations to want to become part of the criminal organizations.
Turf War
The local drug market, the trafficking market and the human smuggling business are making gangs representing major criminal organizations in Tijuana want to own as much as they can of the city, in terms of territory, but also in terms of owning the people’s hearts.
“The locals want the city for themselves, they don’t want others to step in and come to the city and disrespect the local cartel by singing about another group that doesn’t even belong here,” a member of the Tijuana cartel told me in a recent interview downtown Tijuana.
When he says the locals he is referring to the Tijuana cartel, formerly known as the Arellano Felix cartel. Although some still call the Tijuana cartel with its old name, the organization has no relation with the Arellano Felix family anymore.
A source in Tijuana assured that the local cartel is now allied with the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa cartel after the arrest of ‘El Nini’, Los Chapitos’ head of security in November last year.
So by singing to ‘Los Chapitos’, singers like Peso Pluma could earn the support of the local cartel, but also get the violent hate of the other organizations like the Arzate brothers, pledging to ‘El Mayo’ or Los Pelones gang, allied with the CJNG.
It is not new that some artists have been accused of working on behalf of some of the criminal organizations.
During one of my recent interviews, former drug trafficker, Dámaso López Serrano, ‘El Mini-Lic’, accused Peso Pluma of working for ‘Los Chapitos’, more specifically for Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, the eldest of ‘El Chapo’.
The accusations are of course tough to prove. Tijuana’s mayor also called on an investigation against narco-corrido singers for “laundering money” for criminal organizations.
“We have to talk about money laundering amongst the promoters of these kinds of events and pay attention to what these singers are singing about. Their songs are obviously linked to criminal groups,” Caballero said.
Popular and up-coming artist Tomás Ballardo, from Sinaloa, said that there is nothing to hide regarding the relationship between traffickers and musicians. Himself, he told me, belongs to ‘Los Rusos’, a violent group formerly allied with ‘El Mayo’ Zambada in Mexicali -across Calexico, California-, now operating on their own.
Make sure you don’t miss what Ballardo said about Los Chapitos, or how the music industry is sabotaging itself!