Narco concerts to be banned in Cancun, Mexico

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El Komander

Performances by El Komander, Grupo Firme, El Millonario, and Alemán were recently canceled in the tourist resort in an attempt to discourage the drug-related violence that is raging.

As crime continues to surge in the popular Mexican tourist resort city of Cancun, the local government declared that it will no longer allow concerts by some of the country’s most popular musicians because they “promote violence.”

Concerts scheduled for Alfredo Ríos, known more commonly by his stage name El Komander, and the band Grupo Firme, were canceled in Cancun. El Komander and Grupo Firme are two of the most famous acts in the massively popular narcocorrido subgenre, a traditional kind of Mexican folk ballad that narrates the exploits and lives of drug traffickers.

“We will not continue to allow people to promote apologizing for violence. Of course, we respect freedom of expression, but we cannot continue to encourage events that promote violence,” said the general secretary of the Cancun City Council Jorge Aguilar Osorio in a video statement on Twitter that announced the ban on Sunday. “Public shows should not promote any type of violence and, unfortunately, we have had incidents every time there are these types of concerts.”

Although both El Komander and Grupo Firme are renowned for their love ballads and party music, their connection to organized crime often overshadows their more commercial songs. In January 2022, a video went viral of Grupo Firme singing a song at a party about Ovidio Guzmán, the son of incarcerated kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. El Komander also collaborated on arguably the most notorious narcocorrido track in recent history: Sanguinarios del M1 (roughly translated as M1’s Bloodthirsty Guys). 

Click here to read the complete original article on VICE.com

Source: VICE.com

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