Mexican singer Gabito Ballesteros halted mid-concert, then arrested
Mexican singer Gabito Ballesteros was arrested by federal authorities after a concert in Querétaro State was halted on Friday night. The arrest, according to The New York Times, was connected to an investigation unrelated to the performance.
Ballesteros, 27, was performing at a fair in Querétaro, a state in central Mexico, when authorities escorted him off the stage. The show had been stopped over songs considered to glorify cartel culture.
The concert was governed by an agreement on the set list. State officials and event organizers had reviewed and approved the songs before the show, and songs glorifying criminal activities were explicitly excluded under state regulations.
The dispute centred on a genre known as narcocorridos. These are a version of traditional Mexican ballads that celebrate drug cartels instead of historic events and everyday life. Querétaro State last year joined several other Mexican states and municipalities that effectively prohibit their public performance. Breaking those prohibitions can be punished with fines or jail time.
According to the same report, Ballesteros performed one song that was not on the approved list. He was then taken offstage and reminded of his prior agreement. He returned and began performing another unauthorized song, "AMG," a 2022 track that refers to the luxurious lifestyles and fancy cars of cartel members. The song has nearly one billion streams on Spotify.
The concert was stopped during that performance. Authorities later arrested Ballesteros, and the investigation that led to the arrest has been described as separate from the concert itself.
