Beto Quintanilla's Ex-Wife And One Of His Children Shot By Gunmen in Reynosa, Tamps

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The ex-wife of narcocorrido singer Beto Quintanilla, Blanca Alicia and her son were shot by gunmen in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. 

On the afternoon of September 12, 2021, Blanca Alicia and her son were sitting inside their vehicle which was parked in front of a business called La Barbacheria which they had evidently just bought food from. The shop is located on Jalapa and San Luis Potosí streets, in the Rodríguez neighborhood of Reynosa.

Video contains no graphic content.

Another vehicle pulled up alongside their vehicle and gunmen inside shot into Blanca Alicia’s car windows, then the gunmen sped away. It is reported that Blanca drove herself and her injured son to the hospital. At the hospital, she received medical treatment for gunshot wounds she had sustained. 

Blanca Alicia and her son, the singer Beto Quintanilla Jr.

Blanca Alicia’s son, the singer Beto Quintanilla Jr. just today reported through his social networks that his mother Blanca Alicia is out of danger after leaving her medical intervention due to gunshot wounds.

He wrote: “Congratulations mother Blanca de Quintanilla, I thank God very much that he did not let go of his hand at every moment of your operation, thanks to him you are stable from your operation, God is great! and I asked him with great faith for you, I know that many people also did it and I thank them from the bottom of my heart ", said the young musician.

Norberto "Beto" Quintanilla Iracheta was born in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Young Beto left school after only a year of secondary education in order to work alongside his father. Some years later, in order to provide for his large family, Beto relocated to Reynosa, Tamaulipas, to work with his uncle on a cattle ranch. 

Although Beto had always loved to write songs, musical instruments and education were scarce on the ranch. He did manage to make friends with a local bajo sexto and accordion players. He began by writing songs for them until he eventually met music producer Ruben Polanco, who encouraged Beto to professionally write songs. 

Quintanilla recorded mostly narcocorridos, many of which he composed. He recorded more than 20 albums in his lifetime, not including collections of hits.

In 2007, Quintanilla released Tragedias Reales de la Vida, but he died of a heart attack, said to be related to a drug overdose, on March 19th, 2007, just two days after its release. The album became his most popular, not only doing well on Latin music charts but also making its way into Billboard's Top 200.

Chuy Quintanilla's musical career spanned decades and included singing "corridos" or "musical narratives" describing the exploits of Gulf Cartel leaders. In a truly excellent Borderland Beat, vintage 2009, Chuy was described as: “a blustery, 58-year-old songster from Reynosa whose brother is the late narcocorrido superstar Beto Quintanilla. Perhaps Chuy's musical bravado has something to do with the fact that he used to be a federal judicial police commander, a position in Mexico that is ascribed godlike powers. In the current climate of caution, Chuy belts out corridos other artists wouldn't whisper. 

For instance, his ‘Corrido of Tony Tormenta’ tells the story of Antonio ‘Tony Tormenta’ Cardenas — the current chief of the murderous Gulf Cartel. Yet Chuy doesn't like calling them narcocorridos. ‘Let's do away with the term, narcocorrido; it's vulgar,’ he says. ‘A narco is a person who's guilty of a crime that you or I can't ascertain. Only a judge can say. No, Chuy Quintanilla writes corridos about current events’.”

Then in 2013, Borderland Beat reported the death of Chuy Quintanilla. Family later said that they heard from Chuy on the evening of April 24, 2013 but when they tried to reach him later that same night, he didn’t pick up his phone. Then the next morning, Chuy’s body was found in a grapefruit orchard on Bryan Road in an area just north of the town of Mission, Texas. 

Orchard workers found Quintanilla's body in a pool of blood next to his own tan Chevrolet Tahoe SUV. He had two bullet wounds to the head. Deputies believe that Quintanilla was killed in the orchard and left to die. 

Sources: El Manana, Milenio, Expreso, El Diario, Frontera Al Rojo Vivo, Pledge Times

Background Sources: All Music Profile on Beto, Borderland Beat Archives