Bodies of 5 missing musicians of Mexican regional music band are found
near Texas border
[May 30, 2025]
By ALFREDO PEÑA
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — The bodies of five musicians, members of
a Mexican regional music group who had gone missing, were found in the
northern city of Reynosa along the Texas border, authorities said on
Thursday.
The musicians from the band Grupo Fugitivo, which played at parties and
local dances in the region, had been reported missing since Sunday.
Tamaulipas state prosecutors, who had been investigating their
disappearance, said the men were kidnapped around 10 p.m. that night
while traveling in a SUV on the way to a venue where they were hired to
play. Their bodies were found on the fringes of Reynosa. Prosecutors
said nine suspects believed to be part of a faction of the Gulf Cartel,
which has strong presence in the city, have been arrested.
Authorities were not immediately able to say why the men were slain, and
did not deny reports by local media that the bodies had been burned.
The genre they played – Mexican regional music, which encapsulates a
wide range of styles including corridos and cumbia – has in recent years
gained a spotlight as it's entered a sort of international musical
renaissance. Young artists sometimes pay homage to leaders of drug
cartels, often portrayed as Robin Hood-type figures.
It was not immediately clear if the group played such songs or if the
artists were simply victims of rampant cartel violence that has eclipsed
the city. But other artists have faced death threats by cartels, while
others have had their visas stripped by the United States under
accusations by the Trump administration that they were glorifying
criminal violence.
[to top of second column]
|
The last time the musicians were heard from was the night they were
kidnapped, when they told family members they were on the way to the
event. After that, nothing else was heard of them.
Their disappearance caused an uproar in Tamaulipas, a state long
eclipsed by cartel warfare. Their families reported the
disappearances, called on the public for support and people took to
the streets in protest.
On Wednesday, protesters blocked the international bridge connecting
Reynosa and Pharr, Texas, later going to a local cathedral to pray
and make offerings to the disappeared.
Reynosa is a Mexican border city adjacent to the United States and
has been plagued by escalating violence since 2017 due to internal
disputes among groups vying for control of drug trafficking, human
smuggling and fuel theft.
This case follows another that occurred in 2018, when armed men
kidnapped two members of the musical group “Los Norteños de Río
Bravo,” whose bodies were later found on the federal highway
connecting Reynosa to Río Bravo, Tamaulipas.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
