Another folk musician murdered in Mexico

Subject: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 11:14 PM

An article at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/16/2139635.htm?section=justin begins,

A Mexican singer has been shot dead in the northern state of Sinaloa, the latest in what appeared to be a growing list of folk musician slayings by organised crime gangs, local government officials said.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 11:48 PM

Gerry Thank you for the update.

At this moment...as a musician - you are probably safer singing political inuendos in Northern Ireland, Israel, India, or Indonesia than Mexico.

The EU and Canuks becon again this spring/summer. Mexico was once a "hot spot" but no longer....four hour border crossings are no pleasure.

Previous MC thread: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=106801&messages=17

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Brendy
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 02:16 AM

I've been watching these reports now, for a while.

... frightening development...

B.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Maryrrf
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 09:30 AM

This is both bizarre and frightening. What could the motive be???

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Cats
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 09:38 AM

It would be worth everyone contacting their MP and asking them to put down an Early Day Motion [EDM] on this subject. At least that way the government will have to make our thoughts known to the Mexican government.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Peace
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 09:52 AM

Folks may not like the Government's thoughts on the matter.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 10:29 AM

Gosh, I thought we got heated about the used of the word "folk" here....

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Brendy
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 11:20 AM

When the Miami Showband were taken out of their van on their way back from a gig in Co Down and shot in 1975, the idea was was to discourage groups travelling across the border from the south.

I've played in two bars when gunmen came in and shot the place up, but the targets would have been more random, and not necessarily the musicians.

These cases are very individual however; one in particular is where a female singer was shot by one of these gangs, and as she was being treated in hospital, they came back and finished the job.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this happens.
Singers are politicians in their own right, and as such are bound to be targets.

I wonder is there any such phenomenon elsewhere in the World....

B.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Goose Gander
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 11:40 AM

For what it's worth . . . I spoke to someone, who happens to be Mexican, and he told me that it's generally known and reported in Spanish-language media that the unfortunate musicians are involved in gangs, drug activity, etc. "Like gangta-rap," he explained. I don't know if this is true or not, and nothing justifies cold-blooded murder, but if true this perhaps shines some light on the mystery of why this is happening.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 11:50 AM

We live just 25 miles or so north from the Mexican border, at Tijuana. We learn of some new assassination in that garden spot far too frequently. We have warring drug factions, trying to wrest control of the distribution of both contraband and illegal border crossers. Police, judges and others are shot down in the streets, so it takes a brave person to accept those jobs.

Endemic political corruption has deep roots and long and sinuous tentacles. It rarely impacts tourists directly, although attacks on visitors have been increasing, many by what appear to be para-military types with heavy weapons. Surfers and off-road racers, many of whom have enjoyed visiting the country for many years, are staying away because of thefts, rapes and police shakedowns. Ironically, firearms are banned in Mexico.

Mexico, like many Latin American nations, has a few very rich people controlling most of the economy. Upward mobility is not an option for most. This is a country with abundant resources which benefit only the few at the top. Crime and corruption are the result. If folk music performers have become targets, follow the money to find out why.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 04:12 PM

From News Services -

POLICE COMMANDERS KILLED IN TIJUANA

Monday was a bloody night of violence Mexican officials said Tuesday.

District Commander Rico and his assistant Marquez were riddled with bullets as they traveled in a private vehicle after finishing their shift late Monday.

Then, another district commander; Margarito Saldana, was shot dead while he slept in his home before dawn Tuesday. Saldana's wife was also killed, and his daghter was in critical condition at a hospital.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 04:34 PM

When singing about the gangs, etc. can lead to murder (from the linked article:)

About six Mexican musicians have been killed over the past two years as hitmen who once targeted performers of "narcocorridos," or ballads about drug kingpins, broaden their aim to include more mainstream folk singers.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 17 Jan 08 - 05:06 PM

Mexico's statue of limitations for murder is 14 years - There is no capital punishment.

A disproportionate number of women are murdered in the border towns; Juarez was particularly singled out as having dozens of unsolved female fatalities.

This WELL DONE video/song adressed the tragic conditions in 2002. I believe you will like the mix of clear lyrics music and imagry.

YOU TUBE Video of At The Drive-In recording/video of "Invalid Litter Dept."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwzcjQq1llw

At the Drive-In's song "Invalid Litter Dept."

intravenously polite it was the walkie-talkies
that had knocked the pins down
as their shoes gripped the dirt floor
in the silhouette of dying
dancing on corpses' ashes

yeah, they had plans for him
they has spun the last of the pimps
corduroy, satin nailed jewelry lips
while the guillotine just laughed again
dancing on the corpses' ashes

paramedics fell into the wound
like a rehired scab at a barehanded plant
an anesthetic penance beneath
the hail of contraband

they had been defected and excommunicated
and all the pulses were subverted
and they made sure the obituaries
showed pictures of smoke stacks

a vivid dissection that mocked
the strut of vivisection
semi-automatic colonies
and a silencing that still walks the streets

in the company of wolves
was a stretcher made of
cobblestone curfews
the federales performed
their custodial customs quite well

callous heels
numbed in travel
endless maps made
by their scalpels

on my way
nails broke and fell
into the
wishing well

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: Brendy
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 10:07 AM

Nice one Gargoyle. Thanks for that.

Apathy has to be one of the greatest diseases there is.....

B.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 11:40 PM

A rash of executions even of small children on Thursday before this weekend are nausating the most hard core of government Federali police.

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: rich-joy
Date: 19 Jan 08 - 06:31 PM

hmmm .... unfortunately, it brings to mind a closeness with the premise behind Elizabeth Scarborough's trilogy :
"The SongKiller Saga : Phantom Banjo / Picking the Ballad's Bones / Strum Again"
Check them out ....


R-J

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 04:07 PM

Front page story, Sunday's Los Angeles Times. Bottom link to example of Norco Ballad video parody - WARNING Graphic violence.

By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2008

Since January 1st this year, more than 2-dozen people have been killed across the city.

The one-time party mecca is a ghost of its former self.

Empty bars and shuttered businesses now outnumber people.

Visits are down 90% since 2005.

These days Tijuana is famous for it's bloody headline battles between police and organized crime.

Recently, the upscale restaurant Hacienda Cien Años, which once drew tourists, was identified by U.S. authorities as a front for money laundering.

The FBI and State Department issued travel advisories this month. They were quickly recinded after protest by from Mexican authorities.

Ballad Video
Los Tucanes de Tijuana-Narco Jr
http://www.atlatl.com.mx/youtube/viewvideo.php?id=55jTR2KqVVA

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: meself
Date: 18 Feb 08 - 04:25 PM

"quickly recinded after protest by from Mexican authorities."

I guess that means it's safe to travel there after all, then ... ?

Subject: RE: Another folk musician murdered in Mexico
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:28 AM

Thank you for the video link. What a contrast - beautiful, happy, lilting, Germanic music - with such a deadly ironic Mexican visual.

Guess it MUST BE Safe now. I believe trips are still sponsored by the USO, AARP, and AAA.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Once the gringo's only fear was "Montezuma's Revenge."