Mexican police arrest suspect in killing of five band members
The bodies of four musicians from the band and their manager were discovered on Thursday in Tamaulipas state, four days after the men had been reported missing.
Their relatives had reported receiving ransom demands in the days after the men's disappearance.
While kidnappings for ransom are not uncommon in violence-wracked Tamaulipas, the way band members were apparently lured to an abandoned lot by their kidnappers with the promise of a gig at a private party and then killed has shocked locals, who held rallies demanding their release.
Police said they arrested M-47 during raids on three properties, in which they also seized drugs, weapons, cash and suspicious vehicles and detained two other suspects.
Federal officials said they suspect M-47 of being one of the bosses of a gang known as "Metros", which forms part of the Gulf Cartel.
The Gulf Cartel has its stronghold in Tamaulipas state and engages in the smuggling of drugs and migrants across the US-Mexico border, as well as kidnapping for ransom.
It is not clear why the members of Grupo Fugitivo were targeted.
The singer - who survived because he was late on the night - told local media that his band had been hired to perform at a private party and given an address.
The singer said that when he made his own way to the location they had been given to meet up with his fellow musicians, he found the address to be a vacant lot and no sign of the band members or their SUV.
The band's SUV was found abandoned three days later a few kilometres away. The trailer with their instruments and sound equipment was also found dumped at another nearby location.
Investigators believe the five were taken by their captors to a property, where they were killed.
Grupo Fugitivo were known for playing norteña music - a genre characterised by catchy lyrics often sung to a polka-inspired rhythm - which has been targeted by criminal gangs.
Some bands rely on income early in their careers from being hired to play at private parties, many of which are hosted by people involved in or with connections to the cartels.
They sometimes also compose songs praising drug lords and there have been instances in the past when singers of such songs, known as "corridos" have been threatened and even killed by rival gangs.
In total, 12 suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of the members of Grupo Fugitivo so far.
Five musicians murdered in suspected Mexican cartel killing
Mexican band has US visas revoked for 'glorifying drug kingpin'
Indigenous musicians killed in Mexico ambush
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King drops out of 2026 Republican race for US Senate
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King dropped out of the 2026 Republican race for the U.S. Senate Thursday, admitting that he likely wouldn't earn the nomination to face Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, considered the Senate's most vulnerable Democratic incumbent coming up for reelection. King quit hours after Republican Gov. Brian Kemp informed King and other Senate candidates that he would be supporting former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley in a Republican run for the Senate post. Dooley's campaign hasn't launched yet, but in recent weeks he has hired two of Kemp's closest political aides, signaling an announcement is imminent. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is already running, and Thursday's news brought a public acknowledgment that U.S. Rep. Mike Collins will be joining the field, a plan Collins has repeatedlyteased in recent days. King said he would run for reelection as state insurance commissioner next year, saying he would support efforts to help Republicans win 'and back a Senate nominee who supports President Trump's agenda.' 'I got into the U.S. Senate race to beat Jon Ossoff, not distract from the mission. Right now it's clear there's little path forward to the nomination, so today I'm suspending my campaign,' King said in a statement. Kemp's support of Dooley hurt King Kemp himself opted out of the Senate race this spring, depriving Republicans of their strongest possible candidate. But he and Donald Trump pledged after Kemp's exit that they would try to work together to anoint a favorite. Kemp has long family ties to Dooley and his support for the son of University of Georgia coaching legend Vince Dooley has become clear in recent weeks. But Trump is still meeting with hopefuls and is expected by many to wait to weigh in until his team has fully screened them and assessed their chances and after his budget priorities make their way through Congress. Kemp's support of Dooley proved fatal to the campaign of King, a man he plucked from obscurity in 2022 to appoint as insurance commissioner and Georgia's first Hispanic statewide officer. King once looked like he would be Kemp's backup plan if Kemp didn't run for Senate himself. With a history as Mexican immigrant who rose from police officer and soldier to police chief and National Guard major general, his supporters hoped his biography would distinguish him. But Kemp told his donors to hold off on making gifts, and King raised a little more than $500,000 through June 30, sparking questions about whether he could pay for the race. Others say they won't be pushed out. A spokesperson for Collins confirmed that Kemp called Collins Thursday to tell Collins he would be supporting Dooley. Although Collins hasn't yet officially announced his campaign, the spokesperson said Collins looked forward to being the nominee. 'Congressman Collins and the governor had a positive call,' the spokesperson said. 'The congressman reiterated to the governor he is focused on continuing to deliver on President Trump's agenda and looks forward to the governor's support after he wins the primary.' Carter slammed Kemp's move to boost Dooley. 'Politicians don't elect our senators — the people of Georgia do,' spokesperson Harley Adsit wrote in an email. 'There's only one candidate in this race who is a MAGA warrior and only one who will take the fight to radical liberal Jon Ossoff.' Unknowns loom about Dooley Former state Sen. Eric Johnson, who is supporting Carter, said King's decision reflects how important money and high-profile backers are in politics, calling his decision to drop out 'a casualty of the lack of ability to self-fund.' That's not a problem for Carter — of the $3.6 million his campaign raised through June 30, $2 million was a loan from the candidate. Carter has already spent $2.5 million, including television ads seeking to build support. 'It will be interesting to see what the base Republican voter thinks about somebody trying to handpick their senator,' Johnson said, adding he is supporter of Kemp. As a teenager, Kemp was a frequent guest in the Dooley home, and he roomed with Derek's older brother, Daniel Dooley, at the University of Georgia. Kemp has the most effective Republican political organization in Georgia, and Dooley has Kemp political strategist Cody Hall and fundraiser Chelsey Ruppersburg. Since first publicly expressing interest in June, Dooley has also met with top Republicans in Washington. Opponents are already lampooning Dooley for failing to publicly support Trump or other Republicans before now. Someone launched an anonymous University of Tennessee-themed website called 'Dooley's Volunteers' that criticizes Dooley for a lack of conservative credentials, interspersed with quotes from sports reporters panning Dooley's coaching tenure. Kemp and Trump hoped to work together to avoid the conflict that plagued Kelly Loeffler's unsuccessful run before she lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a 2021 runoff. That, along with Sen. David Perdue's loss to Ossoff on the same day, handed control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats. Trump had preferred Collins, while Kemp backed Loeffler. In 2022, Trump anointed Georgia football legend Herschel Walker as the Republican nominee. Walker's candidacy proved flawed, and Kemp only swung in to help in the runoff, which Warnock won. Their effort to jointly screen 2026 candidates produced some results — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declined a Senate run after pressure from other Republicans.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Carney tells Inuit leaders his new major projects law ‘fully respects treaty rights'
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney told Inuit leaders that his government's major projects bill 'fully respects treaty rights' a week after several Indigenous leaders left a recent meeting with him in a state of frustration , saying their treaties were being undermined. On Thursday, Carney was taking part in a meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, co-hosted by the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Natan Obed, in Inuvik, NWT, to discuss Bill C-5, known as the One Canadian Economy Act. In his opening remarks, the prime minister said he wanted to make 'absolutely clear' in the context of this forum on what the legislation could do and what it doesn't do. 'I want to be clear, up front, that the act fully respects treaty rights, including modern treaties, the modern treaties with Inuit treaty organizations. It fully respects treaty-based environmental assessment processes,' he said. 'In fact, those will be essential for anything that we move forward,' he added. Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Rebecca Alty added: 'At the end of the day, treaties are above this law. They have to be respected, and that's always been the case with this bill.' According to the government of Canada's website, treaties are agreements made between the Crown, Indigenous groups that define rights and obligations. They include historic treaties and modern treaties, also called comprehensive land claim agreements. Treaties are enshrined in section 35 of the Constitution Act. In 2021, the Liberal government passed legislation to make sure all federal laws are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which relates to treaty rights. Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak had raised some alarm bells about C-5 before it was tabled and passed in June, saying that the proposed bill suggested 'a serious threat' to the exercise of treaty rights by First Nations. The legislation, which was fast-tracked in Parliament to become law in late June, gives Carney's cabinet the authority to designate projects, such as pipelines, ports and highways, in the 'national interest' and speed up the federal approvals process. In response to criticism from Indigenous leaders who said they had not been properly consulted on the bill, Carney announced he would be holding three summits. A first meeting with First Nations was held last week in Gatineau. Carney met with Inuit leaders in Inuvik on Thursday and he is set to meet with Métis leaders sometime in August. After last week's meeting, Alberta First Nations chiefs held a press conference to reaffirm their opposition to the legislation which they said does not respect treaty rights. 'This bill aims to include First Nations in a unified economy, but in reality, it undermines treaty and inherent rights by assimilating us into a system that did not create consent,' said Vernon Watchmaker, chief of Kehewin Cree Nation. 'A few invited voices do not speak to the treaty relationship of the diverse nations across Turtle Island (Canada),' he added. Chief Sheldon Sunshine, of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, took issue with the government's plan for an Indigenous advisory council which will be a part of the major projects office that will move projects ahead. Carney has said the office will be up and running by Labour Day. Sunshine said the proposed council, which will include First Nations, Inuit and Métis representatives, is a 'colonial construct' and 'not grounded in treaty relationships.' 'Its existence and operation undercut our treaty rights by placing our futures in the hands of an unelected body and reports to the Prime Minister's Office, not to our people,' he said. 'It is used to divide and dilute Indigenous voices, creating the appearance of inclusion while excluding those who assert inherent and treaty-based jurisdictions.' In a recent interview with National Post, Deliah Bernard, former Indigenous affairs adviser to prime minister Justin Trudeau, said there is 'no one-size-fits-all approach to what consent should and could look like' with Indigenous groups. 'There are going to be regional disparities. There are going to be regional priorities. There are going to be circumstances that impact a community in one subsection of the country that necessarily may not impact in the same way… different parts of the country.' 'That's why the principle of consultation and consent is so crucial and so critical,' said Bernard, now co-founder of the Indigenous affairs agency Roots Strategies. Carney underscored last week that his government was only at the starting point of a much longer consultation process that would have to unfold with individual communities. He also promised to put $40 million towards ensuring Indigenous leadership is involved in further discussions, including on the question of which projects should be fast-tracked. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty pointed to how having Indigenous participation was part of the criteria for determining which projects would make the cut, referring to comments made by Carney directly to First Nations chiefs last week. 'The likelihood of these projects advancing or being completed without Indigenous people at the table… to me, sounded like zero,' Gull-Masty said. While in Inuvik, Carney also announced the appointment of a new Arctic ambassador. Virginia Mearns, an Inuit leader based in Iqaluit who held senior positions in the government of Nunavut, will start her mandate effective September 15. In this role, Mearns will focus 'on reinforcing Canada's Arctic engagements with like-minded partners and multilateral forums, bolstering Arctic sovereignty Arctic sovereignty, and advancing opportunities for security and growth' according to Carney's office. — With additional reporting from Stephanie Taylor. National Post calevesque@ Carney pitches major project powers to skeptical First Nations as advancing 'Indigenous economic growth' AFN national chief says fast-tracked projects bill should come with plan for infrastructure for reserves Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Mexican national married to a Marine Corps veteran seeks release from immigration custody
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A woman detained at a citizenship appointment in May will not be deported following a judge's ruling this week barring her removal, but her Marine Corps veteran husband said she remains in custody at immigration detention center in Louisiana. For two months, Paola Clouatre, 25, has been held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement complex in Monroe, waiting to learn whether she will be allowed to remain in the country. Once a week she is allowed to see her husband, who makes the eight-hour roundtrip trek from Baton Rouge so the mother can breastfeed their 4-month-old baby and see their 2-year-old son. Clouatre, a Mexican national, entered the U.S. seeking asylum with her mother more than a decade ago. After marrying her husband in 2024 and applying for her green card to legally live and work in the U.S., she learned that ICE had issued an order for her deportation in 2018 after her mother failed to appear at an immigration hearing. In May, during a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services appointment in New Orleans, a staffer asked about the deportation order. Clouatre explained that she was trying to reopen her case, with her husband telling The Associated Press that he and his wife were trying 'to do the right thing.' Soon after, officers arrived and handcuffed Clouatre. Adrian Clouatre has spent nearly eight weeks fighting for his wife's release, remaining optimistic that their family would soon be reunited outside the detention facility located nearly 180 miles (290 kilometers) from their south Louisiana home. On Wednesday, they got word that a judge in California — the original jurisdiction for Paola Clouatre's case — had stayed the order for her removal. Adrian Clouatre welcomed the decision. He said their lawyer is preparing paperwork seeking his wife's release, though it's not guaranteed and could take weeks even in the best of scenarios. 'I just keep telling our son, ''Mom's coming home soon,'' Adrian Clouatre said. Meanwhile, the couple's lawyer is working to get the Baton Rouge mother's green card process back on track, The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune reported. While the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has already ruled that the couple has a valid marriage, the process has been held up amid the legal battle. The Baton Rouge mother is one of tens of thousands of people in custody as part of President Donald Trump's pledge to remove millions of people who are in the country without legal permission. Clouatre said GOP U.S. Sen. John Kennedy has also requested that the Department of Homeland Security release his wife from custody. Kennedy's office did not return AP's emailed request for comment. Kennedy is not the first Louisiana Republican to get involved in an immigration case in the reliably red state. Earlier this month, An Iranian mother, who was detained by ICE after living in the U.S. for nearly five decades, was released following advocacy from Republican U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
