Culture
Julión Álvarez isn't the first regional Mexican singer to be linked to drug trafficking
Many Mexican musicians used the drug trade and organized crime as inspiration for their songs, but in a few cases link to the cartels have gone deeper than that.
This August 9, Julión Álvarez was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for his alleged relationship with alleged drug trafficker Raúl Flores Hernández. His wife Nataly Fernández is the former girlfriend of Valentín Elizalde who was murdered by suspected drug traffickers in 2006.
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Julián Álvarez is not the first of the regional Mexican singers to be linked to the shady world of drug traffickers. The late Jenni Rivera was also linked to drug cartel parties in some media reports. Rivera, along with six others, died in a plane crash near Iturbide, Nuevo León on December 9, 2012.
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A witness linked to a drug trafficker, Édgar Valdez Villarreal, alias 'La Barbie', was quoted as saying 'the great lady' had sung in his 'narcofiestas', according to El Debate.
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The case of Ramón Ayala, known as 'The Accordion King' is one of the most famous singers to have been linked to 'narcofiestas.'
Instagram / @IAmRamonAyala
In 2009, the interpreter of 'Bitter Liquor' ('Tragos de amargo licor') was arrested while he was entertaining an alleged narcofiesta in Cuernavaca, Morelos, supposedly attended by the drug trafficker known as 'La Barbie.'
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The murder of the Juan Sebastián González in 2010 also raised suspicions that his father Joan Sebastian had ties to drug trafficking.
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Soon after the death of his son, Joan Sebastian offered a press conference to clear the family name. "I'm not a drug trafficker," he said angrily, according to People en Español. Sebastian was awarded seven Latin Grammy Awards and five Grammy Awards, making him the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy history. He died of cancer in 2015.
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Ranchera singer Vicente Fernandez was investigated for drug money laundering at the end of 2013.
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Concerts in Spain by Vicente Ferrnandez, 'El Charro de Huentitán,' were used to launder money from Colombian drug trafficking, according to some media reports. The singer was later cleared as suspicion turned to the music promoter who took him to Spain, according to El Debate.
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The Tucanes de Tijuana were accused by authorities for violating a ban on narcocorridos which celebrate the lives of drug traffickers and are considered “acts against public security.”
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In June, the government in Tijauna cancelled a Tucanes concert because of the group's reputation for narcocorridos.
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Gerardo Ortiz has also gotten into trouble for his narcocorridos about drug traffickers like 'El Chapo' and Dámaso López Nuñez.
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The Office of the Attorney General investigated Gerardo Ortiz for links to organized crime and illicit income, according to the newspaper La Jornada.
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In May, Los Tigres del Norte were fined $25,000 by the city of Chihuahua for singing about drug smugglers in a well-known ballad about Camelia the Texan, a woman who smuggles drugs into the United States and then murders her lover in a jealous rage.
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Rumors surrounded the death of Valentín Elizalde in 2006. It was speculated that the singer was killed for playing the song 'To my enemies,' which is considered as a message of 'El Chapo' for the Zetas. His former girlfriend Nataly Fernández is now married to Julión Álvarez.
Valentín Elizalde, 'El Gallo de Oro,' was gunned down in an ambush in 2006 along with his manager, Mario Mendoza, and his driver, Raymundo Ballesteros in Reynosa, Mexico. In 2008, the Attorney General's Office attributed the deaths to the Zetas.
Facebook / Valentín Elizalde 'El Gallo de Oro'
According to the Attorney General's Office the murder of Sergio Gómez was ordered by 'El Chayo', leader of the Cartel de la Familia Michoacana, although the details remaion unclear, including a motive.
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Melissa Plancarte, 'La Barby Grupera', is the daughter of the drug trafficker Enrique Plancarte, ex-leader of the Knights Templar who passed away in 2014.
Instagram / @melissaplancarteoficial
It was said that her father helped financed her career. In an interview with Uforia Music she explained that the scandal benefited her career.
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