Singer who glorified drug lords shot dead in Mexico

A popular Mexican musician who sang the praises of drug lords, was shot dead in a parking lot in the west of the country, police said late Tuesday.

Ernesto Barajas, a singer with the group Enigma Norteno, which has four million monthly listeners on Spotify, was gunned down in the city of Zapopan in Jalisco state.

He is among several performers of so-called “narcocorridos” — a controversial sub-genre of regional music that celebrates the exploits of infamous drug cartels — to have been killed in recent months.

In May, five members of the group Fugitivo were murdered by suspected drug traffickers in Tamaulipas state.

Police said two men approached Barajas by motorcycle in a parking lot on Tuesday and opened fire on him, Zapopan police said.

Another man died in the attack and a woman was injured in the leg, they said.

Enigma Norteno’s repertoire includes a song dedicated to Nemesio Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s biggest drug trafficking organizations.

The group also has a track called “Los Chapitos,” after the sons of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, currently serving life imprisonment in the United States.

Mexican criminal groups pay musicians to compose and perform songs that glorify their exploits.

Sometimes the singers get caught up in turf wars.

Mexican media said that Barajas had received threats from the CJNG in the past.

Several regions of Mexico have banned “narcocorridos,” sparking a riot during a concert in April after a singer refused to perform some of his most popular songs.