5 missing musicians found dead near Mexico-Texas border
(NewsNation) — The bodies of five musicians from the band Grupo Fugitivo were found dead in the city of Reynosa, along the Texas border, believed to have been victims of a cartel.
The group, which performs regional music, disappeared Sunday after traveling to a venue where they were hired to play and were found dead Thursday, according to Mexican media.
The men were kidnapped around 10 p.m. Sunday while traveling in an SUV, Tamaulipas state prosecutors said. They did not offer information on the condition of the bodies or why the men were killed but did not deny local media reports that they were burned.
Prosecutors said nine suspects in the case have been arrested and are believed to be part of a faction of the Gulf cartel.
Relatives reportedly got ransom demands for the musicians, and family members said they were hired to put on a concert but arrived to find a vacant lot.
The genre of music they played is one where artists sometimes pay homage to drug cartel leaders who are portrayed as Robin Hood-type figures, but it is not clear if the group performed such songs or not.
Musicians have faced death threats from cartels before, and some have also had visas stripped by the Trump administration on the grounds that they glorified criminal violence.
At times, musicians have been targeted by cartels that pay them to compose and play songs glorifying them and have at times also been caught up in turf battles between gangs.
Several regions have banned the subgenre, known as “narcocorridos,” in an effort to counter its popularity among young people.
Reynosa has faced escalating violence since 2017 as different cartels attempted to gain control of drug trafficking and human smuggling.
