City in Mexico Bans Narco Songs

Borderland Beat  posted by DD from material from InSight Crime, CNN, Elijah Wald

Photo from Borderland Beat Story by Lucio R. at http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2015/03/narco-corrido-singer-rogelio-brambila.html

With the recent spate of killings of Narcocorrido singers (as reported here on BB) in the last few weeks, inevitably the issue of banning Narcocorridos surfaced again.   The City Council of Chihuahua City, capitol of the Northern state of Chihuahua, has passed an ordinance banning the performing and distribution of Narcocomidos.  Violators are subject to fines of around $20,000 dollars and up to 36 hours in jail.  

The capital's city council has decided to put the ban into action and stiffen the penalties as they believe narcocorridos promote crime and violence while apologizing for and glorifying organized crime figures.  The council's decision followed a shooting at a narco corrido concert in the nearby city of Parral that reportedly left two dead and one wounded.

In 2011 the state of Chihuahua Legislature approved a statewide ban on narcocorridors but it was never implemented by local municipal authorities.  In 2011 Sonora's Governor Mario López Valdez issued a ban on  Narcocorridos or corridos about crime in bars, pubs, restaurants  and nightclubs.in the state.  Violators would have their liquor licenses canceled or revoked.    

The Federal Supreme Court overturned  Lopez's  ban as being unconstiturional and over-reaching his authority and  it was considered contravening Mexico's Freedom of Expression laws.  

Tijuana city, Baja California state and Nuevo Leon state have all imposed similar bans.

As reported on Borderland  Beat by Buggs, during the Calderon administration  a PAN legislator  tried unsuccessfully to make performing or producing drug ballads punishable with up to three years in prison.

Wikipedia defines narco-corrido as:

"  A narco-corrido (Spanish pronunciation: [narkokoˈriðo], Drug Ballad) is a subgenre of the
Mexican norteño-corrido (northern ballad) music genre, a traditional folk music from northern  Mexico, from which other several genres have evolved. This type of music is heard on both sides of the US–Mexican border. It uses a danceable, accordion-based polka as a rhythmic base. The first corridos that focus on drug smugglers—the narco comes from "narcotics"—have been dated  by Juan Ramírez-Pimienta to the 1930s. Early corridos (non-narco) go back as far to the Mexican Revolution of 1910, telling the stories of revolutionary fighters. Music critics have also compared narcocorrido music to gangster rap.

There have been calls for censorship of corridos associated with drug trafficking or the crime world ever since Los Tigres del Norte hit with “Contrabando y Traición” and “La Banda del Carro Rojo” in the 1970s, but these calls have intensified in recent years.  

"Los Tigres Del Norte 1" by Dwight McCann / Chumash Casino Resort Santa in Ynez, California

InSight Crime reported that Tigres del Norte was banned from playing one of their more popular songs, "La Granja," at a music awards ceremony in Mexico. The video and lyrics are critical of the government's fight against the drug cartels, using a farm as a metaphor for Mexico, and·animals to represent the main actors. The drug gangs are depicted as an angry Rottweiler, and a fox (an apparent jab at former President Vicente Fox) is depicted as starting all the trouble by letting the dog loose, while pigs in a barn -- who may represent Mexico's elite or the US -- are described as happily feasting on corn, only caring about "profits." Meanwhile, a giant wall is built around the farm, keeping the poor farmers from escaping, a metaphor which needs little explanation. 

Is "La Granja" a political critique of Mexican drug policy, as Los Tigres del Norte insist, or is it veiled message of support for the criminal groups that are fighting the government, as the authorities have argued?

 Many other narcocorridos raise similar questions about the line between describing the reality of drug trafficking, and glamorizing or professing support for it.

"The corridos are attempts by Mexican society to come to terms with the world around them, and drug violence is a big part of that world," Mexico's former foreign secretary Jorge Castañeda told the New York Times. "You cannot blame narcocorridos for drug violence. Drug violence is to blame for narcocorridos."

 InSight Crime listed the top 5 of what it considers the most notorious and controversial narco-corridors;

1) Angel Gonzalez, "Contrabando y Traicion">

   

Often described as the first narcocorrido, the song was popularized when Los Tigres del Norte recorded a version in 1974. The lyrics tell the story of a woman, Carmelia, who smuggles drugs into the US and then kills her lover. Gonzalez has said that Carmelia is fictional, which has not prevented some women from claiming to be the original inspiration. As the genre developed, many narcocorridos began paying homage to real life traffickers. (See video, below).

2) Tucanes de Tijuana, "El Mas Bravo de los Bravos"

 

A popular young band, the Tucanes de Tijuana recorded several songs that praised Raydel Rosalio Lopez Uriarte, alias "Muletas," the alleged second-in-command of a faction of the Tijuana Cartel before his arrest in 2010. "El Mas Bravo de los Bravos" (The Toughest of the Tough) is just one of them. The group also wrote a song about Lopez's boss, Teodoro Garcia Simental, which has only been released online. During a Tijuana concert in August 2010, the group's frontman stated, "My regards to El Teo and his partner Muletas. Long live the mob!" The incident led Tijuana police chief Julian Leyzaola to ban the group from playing in the city.

3) Valentin Elizade, "A Mis Enemigos"  

Elizade was killed in 2006 when gunmen ambushed him after a concert in Reynosa. A popular conspiracy theory behind his death involves "A Mis Enemigos" (To My Enemies), which some have interpreted as a challenge to the Zetas, although they are not named in the song.

4) Gerardo Ortiz, "Los Duros de Colombia"  

 With the rise of social networking sites like Myspace and YouTube, narcocorridos steadily gained popularity outside of Mexico's northern border states. Ortiz's song, an ode to Pablo Escobar of the Medellin Cartel and the Cali-based Rodriguez brothers, was one of the earliest signs that the genre had gained an international reach. Ortiz later survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

5) Oscar Ovidio, "El Corrido de Juan Ortiz"

 

  Guatemalan singer Oscar Ovidio composed this song about the exploits of one of the country's most notorious drug traffickers, alias "Juan Chamale." In the late 2000s, as Mexican traffickers steadily gained a foothold in Central America, the narcocorrido was another export that appeared to follow them.

A brief history of early attempts at censoring narco-corridors from the book Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas, by Elijah Wald.

1998:
Chihuahua. The state’s human rights representative calls for a ban on radio play of narcocorridos, but without any success.  The Chamber of the Radio and Television Industry (CIRT, proposes an agreement “like those in Sinaloa and Baja California,” in which radio broadcasters would voluntarily cease playing narco songs

2001:
Sinaloa, 3/2. The state’s CIRT announces a “voluntary” ban on broadcast of narcocorridos.

 Sinaloa, 3/11. Citing the successful censorship of narcocorridos, the State Prosecutor announces plans to prohibit the performance of such songs at live concerts.

Tijuana, BC, 3/14. PRD proposes regulations controlling the broadcast of narcocorridos on radio and television.

 Tijuana, 3/15. Representatives of the radio programmers agree that it might be good to censor this music if it is genuinely harming young people. They note, however, that songs like Los Tucanes’ “Mis Tres Animales” talk about drugs only in coded language, and thus can only affect people who already are familiar enough with the drug scene to understand this code.

 National, 3/22. Senator Yolanda Gonzalez Hernandez of the PRI argues, citing existing laws against encouraging criminal acts, she calls for “restrictions on reproduction of certain works, though not impeding their creation.” (Hence, she argues that this is not censorship, since people are welcome to write the songs or make the records. She just does not want them to be allowed on the airwaves.)  

Coahuila and Tamaulipas, May. In Saltillo, Coahuila, the deputies of the Local Congress unanimously approved a statement to eliminate narcocorridos from the radio in Coahuila. Deputy Elida Bautista Castañón said, “It is known that man tends to imitate what he sees and hears, so it is logical that a person will act violently if all day long he is seeing scenes of crimes and listening to the adventures of a drug trafficker whose aim is to illegally enrich himself.”(DD note; Emphasis added is mine.  Proof that legislators don't have to pass a IQ test to hold office)

, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, members of the city’s Cultural Commision asked the City Hall to take the relevant action to prohibit narcocorridos in the radio and television stations.

 Coahuila, 6/20. The state congress calls for measures like those in force in Sinaloa and Baja California.

National, 11/7. Roque Chávez López, president of the Consulting Council of the CIRT declares that "The radio broadcasters of the country want to say no to everything that speaks of violence. 

National, 12/5. Senator Javier Corral, Senator from Chihuahua and head of the Commission of Comunication and Transport, calls for national restrictions on narcocorridos.

DD; Thankfully all the legislators went home for Christmas after that.  .But all that happened just  in the year 2001,

If you want to see what happened in latter years click on the link to Alijah Wald at the start of this history.  

I agree with Walds statement that:

"While both drugs and crime cause real problems for society at large, and for many individuals, I am extremely dubious about the purposes of such censorship. It seems to me to be a attempt by politicians to get publicity as defenders of public morals and safety without doing any of the difficult things that would be necessary to genuinely deal with the problems, such as providing poor people with other ways to improve their economic situation."

I am not a fan of narco-corridors, but I think attempts at censorship, which is a form of prohibition, will be just as unsuccessful as the prohibition on drugs has been.  If you think they have not become part of the culture both in Mexico and to a fast growing extent in the US, just go to YouTube and do a search "narco-corridors" and you will get 217,000 results which  suggests Mexico has no hope of pulling the plug on the music.

As one college student said that when he heard the news on the radio that the Chihuaha City Council had approved a ban on narco-corridors he "thought it was a joke". 

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