“We’d like to apologize for what happened at our concert in Guadalajara, Jalisco.” That was the message posted by Los Alegres del Barranco after the controversy that erupted late last month over an image projected during a show—the face of Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The incident sparked widespread outrage and consequences for the Mexican group. Christopher Landau, the United States’ ambassador to Mexico during the first term of Donald Trump, announced that the members of the group had their work and tourist visas revoked.
“I am a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that does not mean that expression should be free of consequences,” Landau wrote on X. “The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who exalt criminals and terrorists.”
Prosecutors in two Mexican states have already opened investigations into the images, and a broader debate continues over how to address the rise of a popular musical genre that has faced sharp criticism for romanticizing drug cartels.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said that “violence cannot be justified, nor can criminal groups.”
