Mexican pop star Peso Pluma has postponed his show in Tijuana after the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel began posting ominous banners around the area threatening his life.
Pluma, 24, whose real name is Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, is a popular “Narcocorrido” singer, or an artist whose work glorifies drug cartels in songs often labeled “narco ballads.” Many of Pluma’s songs, for instance, have celebrated drug cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Still, his narco ballads do not sit well equally with all cartels, if the banners supposedly signed by Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación” (CJNG) are any evidence.
On Thursday, Pluma’s record label, Doble P Records, told fans that his Oct. 14 show in Tijuana has been canceled out of an abundance of caution, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Authorities arrested a man in Tijuana for hanging banners threatening Pluma’s safety with a message reading in Spanish, “This is for you, Peso Pluma. Refrain from appearing this October 14. Because it will be your last presentation.”
It was signed CJNG, authorities reported.
Several other similar banners also appeared in the town just south of the U.S. border between California and Mexico.
Pluma has postponed shows in Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Birmingham, according to The Messenger.
Whatever the seriousness of the threats, the municipal president of Tijuana, Montserrat Caballero Ramírez, had little sympathy for Pluma.
“Singers like Peso Pluma glorifies crime, so there are certain groups that get upset and unfortunately those who suffer the consequences are the citizens who want to attend their concerts and then are put at risk. In the next few days we will determine whether the concert goes ahead or not,” she said, according to Billboard.
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