Why Are Mexican Musicians Being Murdered?

Saturday, December 1st, two men walked into an ICU, pulled a gun and shot a 28 year-old woman who had just emerged from surgery for a gunshot wound sustained earlier in her motel. The woman was Zayda Pena, singer with the Mexican band Zayda y los Culpables.

Monday, just two days after Ms. Pena's death, another musician, Sergio Gomez, of the group K-Paz de la Sierra, was found tortured, strangled and dumped by the roadside after being abducted while leaving a performance.

It's an occurrence that's becoming more and more common in the Mexican drug war's escalating violence since 2000. Drug cartels have been warring over routes used to smuggle drugs like cocaine through Mexico into the United States.

The city of Nuevo Laredo, population 500,000, which lies just across the border from El Paso saw approximately 170 drug cartel related murders in 2005. Only one of these murders resulted in an arrest. Current Mexican president, Filipe Calderon, has sent around 20,000 Mexican troops to the border since taking office in December of 2006, but violence continues to increase. Armed with automatic weapons, satellite phones and GPS equipment, the drug cartels have the money and the incentive to keep fighting.

But why bother killing musicians? Until the most recent killings targeted musicians were singers of narco-corridos. Corridos are Mexican folk songs that began as stories of exploits of bandits in the Mexican country-side. More recently they have morphed into celebrations of illegal immigrants and drug cartels. But Zayda Pena and Sergio Gomez had little connection with drug cartels- even as themes in their music. Now, musicians in Mexico are understandably scared.

Apparently the musician-killing trend began as drug cartels started posting online videos documenting murders of rival cartel members- complete with musical soundtracks. Some of the music had obvious relevance to drug cartels, like murdered musician Valentin Elizalde's "To My Enemies," which had become a sort of drug lord anthem. It had been adopted by the Sinaloa Cartel based in Michoacan. But both Pena and Gomez were best known for love songs.

It is now starting to appear that having the wrong fan base can be deadly for a musician in Mexico. If the Sinaloa Cartel picks up your song as the theme song for one of their video killings the Gulf Cartel may come calling. The musicians have no control over any of it.

Earlier killings which targeted music with the drug cartels as subjects sparked suspicions on the part of some that some of the musicians may have had more than a passing familiarity with the operations of the Mexican drug cartels. Critics point to the use of terminology and code names used by the groups.

This charge of direct involvement with the cartels is denied by Alberto Cervantes Nieto, a Mexican singer who was gunned down after a concert in 2006. He survived after twelve days in a coma. Nieto is known for his songs about members of the Arellano Felix Cartel, including "El Cholo," about a cartel leader on the run from authorities.

Nieto is quoted by the San Diego Union Tribune as saying: "I don't know if someone didn't like how I sing, or if it was because someone just didn't like me. Nothing can be determined until the person who did this is arrested."

The most recent killings seem to support Nieto's and other singers' claims that they had no direct involvement with anyone in the cartels. Nobody has suggested that musicians like Pena and Gomez had any connection with Mexican drug cartels. Sadly, if history is any indication, the killing is not likely to be over.