The Mexican band Los Alegres del Barranco, a group that glorifies the drug cartels in many of its songs, has had its visas canceled by the Trump administration ahead of a planned concert in San Francisco.
The band was scheduled to headline a South Bay concert on April 29, but U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau stepped in on April 1 to pump the brakes on the band’s plans.
“I’m a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean that expression should be free of consequences,” Landau wrote in a post on X.
“A Mexican band, ‘Los Alegres del Barranco,’ portrayed images glorifying drug kingpin ‘El Mencho’ — head of the grotesquely violent CJNG cartel — at a recent concert in Mexico. I’m pleased to announce that the State Department has revoked the band members’ work and tourism visas,” the official explained.
“In the Trump Administration, we take seriously our responsibility over foreigners’ access to our country. The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists,” Landau concluded.
Los Alegres del Barranco is a niche band in what is often called the “Narcocorrido” genre — or drug ballads — a style of music in which musicians celebrate and glorify dangerous Mexican drug cartel leaders and lauds their crimes.
In a reply to an X user who wrote “FAFO” (Fuck Around And Find Out), Landau jokingly replied, “I was thinking about including that to my post but thought I was already venturing far enough outside the conventional diplomatic box that I didn’t want heads to explode.”
In a post replying to the revocation of their visas, the band insisted they never intended to offend anyone, writing in Spanish, “It was never our intention to generate controversy, let alone cause offense. We will take more stringent measures regarding the visual and narrative content of our performances,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
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