La Familia Michoacana Threaten Christian Nodal & More, Shoot At Band Who Just Left Music Festival

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

A music festival being held this weekend in the state of Mexico has been explicitly threatened by cartel members from La Familia Michoacana. It is being reported that the bus that was carrying a musical act who had just performed at the festival was shot at by presumed cartel members.

The music festival “Feria Metepic” takes place in the municipality of Metepec in Mexico state. Metepec is located directly to the east of the state’s capital city of Toluca.

Normally the music festival “Feria Metepic” (also known as Feria de San Isidro) is held in May, however due to the coronavirus pandemic the festival was postponed until the very end of October into the beginning of November so that more people could become vaccinated and safely attend the festivities. 

The festival is more than just a musical stage, as it often has state-fair-like mechanical games to play for prizes, jaripeo (a form of bull riding), a livestock show and various food pavilions.

For the mainstage lineup this weekend they had scheduled Pancho Barraza for Friday, Christian Nodal for Saturday and Alfredo Olivas for Sunday. (Never forget that Alfredo Olivas' father is Alfredo Olivas Valenzuela, alias "Chapo Alfredo" an alleged Caborca Cartel regional leader, although this is likely unrelated to this specific cartel incident.)

Next weekend the mainstage lineup included Luis R Conriquez for Friday, Julión Álvarez for Saturday, and La Arrolladora for Sunday.

On the morning of Friday, November 5, 2021, a narco message banner was discovered hanging on a vehicular bridge. The banner left by cartel members appeared at the intersection of Torres and Comonfort streets, in the Casablanca neighborhood of the city of Toluca.

The narco banner was quickly removed but not until after a few people passing by had already snapped a photo of the sign. The sign read as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

This is an urgent warning. All the musical artists are hereby informed not to present themselves at the fair in Metepec. Do not come to the coliseum. Avoid the spilling of innocent civilians' blood. As well as your own.

This is due to the actions of that scumbag businessman Mario Garcia. You are all prohibited from playing at this event. You must respect our drug corridor. And we will respect your lives. 

Sincerely, La Familia Michoacána

Later, the organizers of the festival released a statement to state that the scheduled activities would continue as normal. 

It read, in part: "Our event will continue with its scheduled activities and we hope you can join us and note that we have the full support of both state and municipal authorities in the aspect of strengthening security for the good of all".

However the scheduled mainstage act for that night, Pancho Barraza, chose to postpone his performance.

Then on the morning of Saturday, November 6, 2021, about 24 hours after the narco message banner was discovered, a bus which was transporting La Adictiva, a musical act that had just performed at the Metepec musical festival, was shot at by a group of armed men.

A representative of the band reported that at around 5:35 am, while they were driving on the Toluca Atlacomulco highway, a red Jetta vehicle attempted to pass their vehicle. After they passed, the men inside the Jetta began shooting out of their windows at the bus. The bus was shot five times on the driver's side and one time at the rear. 

The bus driver turned into a lane towards a toll booth and the red Jetta began to slow its pursuit, eventually breaking off. At the toll booth the bus stopped and the incident was reported to law enforcement authorities who were dispatched to check on the band and their staff.

No injuries or deaths were reportedly caused by the incident however the band was told to wait until 6:50 am when state police could arrive to area to escort their vehicle to their next destination for the sake of safety.

The following artists have cancelled performing at their normally scheduled times, some postponing their performance, some cancelling: 

Pancho Barraza - Original Schedule Date - November 6, 2021  

Compa Neto & His Band - Original Schedule Date - November 6, 2021  

La Dinastia - Original Schedule Date - November 11, 2021

Sources: El Universal, 24-Horas, Infobae, Plana Mayor, Tolucala Bella CD Article 1, Article 2