MEXICO CITY (AP) — The popular Mexican regional music band Grupo Firme announced on Friday that it was canceling a performance in a music festival in California over the weekend after the United States government suspended the musicians’ visas.
It comes after the U.S. State Department has revoked visas of a number of Mexican musicians for playing a genre of music that it says glorifies cartel violence.
The group, which has soared to international fame playing Mexican regional music, said in a statement posted on its Instagram account that the visas of them and their team are currently under “administrative review by the U.S. Embassy” and that it would make it “impossible” for them to perform in the La Onda Fest to be held in the city of Napa Valley, California on June 1. But the post didn’t detail what it would mean in the long term for the musical group.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said that visa cases are confidential according to U.S. law and couldn’t provide more information on the case.
The suspension is just the latest in a series of moves the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has taken targeting Mexican artists in the genre, who in some cases have glorified the leaders of cartels as sort of Robin Hood figures. While the genre of “narco-corridos” has stirred controversy, much of the music also speaks to the harsh realities facing Mexican youth caught in cartel violence.
Two months ago, the Mexican musical group Los Alegres del Barranco was sanctioned after it projected images of the leader of the feared Jalisco New Generation Cartel at a concert in the western state of Jalisco.
“I’m a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean that expression should be free of consequences,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said at the time. “The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists.”
But Grupo Firme has taken steps in recent months to distance itself from the facet of the musical genre glorifying criminal groups, announcing in April shortly after the controversy that it would not sing such music in concerts.