Mexico fires 7 for allegedly planning to use aid programs to promote ruling party in elections

The Washington Post 
April 18, 2013

MEXICO CITY — The head of Mexico’s Social Development department dismissed seven officials Thursday after some of them were mentioned in taped discussions about how to use anti-poverty programs to promote the governing party in upcoming local elections.

The dirty tricks discussed at the meetings included kicking opposition supporters off a federal program that provides small monthly stipends to poor families and handing out government-supplied wheelchairs in the name of the ruling party.

It reads like a laundry list of abuses from the past of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, which ruled Mexico for seven decades with graft and handouts until it lost the presidency in the 2000 and the 2006 elections.

When Enrique Pena Nieto’s regained the presidency for the PRI last year, he said the party had reformed itself. But the tapes released by the conservative National Action Party reveal officials from the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, which is governed by the PRI, discussing how to get National Action supporters off government social programs and insert PRI supporters.  Read more. 

Drug War and the Arts: Mexican city bans Tigres del Norte for drug songs

The Huffington Post: "The capital of Mexico's Chihuahua state has indefinitely banned the famous norteno group Los Tigres del Norte from playing in the city after the band sang ballads glorifying drug traffickers during a weekend concert.

There have been other attempts in Mexico to ban the ballads known as "narcocorridos," but seldom have they affected a mainstream group as popular as Los Tigres.

The band has been a mainstay of norteno music for decades, with hits like "Contrabando y Traicion" (Contraband and Betrayal) and "Jefe de Jefes" (Boss of Bosses).

"The musical group will not get permits for future shows in the city limits, until such time as authorities decide otherwise," the city said in a statement.
The Chihuahua city government said the band violated a three-month-old city ordinance prohibiting songs that glorify traffickers, and that the concert's organizers would be fined "at least 20,000 pesos" ($1,585)." read more

Mexico Drug War: Death Rattle

A fascinating look at the history and expansion of 'narcocorridos,' drug songs, in Mexico and their interrelation with the realities of the drug war.

AmericanProspect: "In 2010, the collective of Mexican musicians known as Movimiento Alterado released a rousing carousel blitz of tubas, accordions, and snare rolls it called “Sanguinarios del M1.” The song’s title roughly translates as “The Bloodthirsty Killers of El M1”—M1 is the nickname for Manuel Torres Félix, an infamous member of the Sinaloa drug cartel. (He also goes by El Ondeado, “The Off One” or “The Crazy One.”)

...The sing-alongs of Movimiento Alterado could only have been born during this blood-soaked moment of the U.S.–Mexico drug war. ... In a recent essay in the Mexican newspaper Milenio, the Tijuana writer Heriberto Yépez claims that Mexico’s cartels have gone from being an economy to becoming an ideology that saturates society. ... For Yépez, 'narco' was once a prefix, an adjective that described an aspect of Mexican culture. Now it is Mexican culture; “narco and culture are synonyms.” Movimiento Alterado is the first major musical effort to exploit this cultural shift. " read more

Mexico Politics and the Drug War: Pending amendments would criminalize inciting crime through music, media

Justice in Mexico: " Last Thursday, November 10, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies’ Justice Commission ... unanimously approved a proposal to criminalize the incitement of crime through music, banners, video, live shows, or the media, reports El Universal. Such incitement would become illegal only in cases where a person or entity publically instigates a criminal action with the purpose of causing its fulfillment, according to legislative reports.

The new law could punish singers of Mexico’s beloved drug ballads (narcocorridos) with years in prison for promoting a criminal activity through song, even if the encouraged crime is never actually carried out. ... Initiatives to ban narcocorridos in recent years, at the state and municipal level, have drawn significant criticism. 


According to reports, one academic expert who studies narcocorridos attributes their popularity to, on one hand, many Mexicans’ longing to identify with an “anti-hero,” given the problems many citizens face in society today, and, on the other hand, an outlet for celebration and happiness. As such, the expert predicted that a ban on the music would only strengthen the public’s attachment to it. " read more