Jalisco Governor Considers Lifting Restrictions on Los Alegres del Barranco

Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus said he is considering lifting restrictions on the group Los Alegres del Barranco so they can leave the state and fulfill their music contracts. After they were charged with criminal proceedings and imposed a precautionary measure limiting their performances outside of Jalisco to only five per month, the group is also seeking to have the state government drop the charges of condoning crime for which they are under investigation. Last week, the state prosecutor’s office opened another case for alleged use of a “front” company in their contracts for concerts in which they sang narcocorridos in Jalisco.

To ingratiate themselves, the group recorded and released the corrido “El Consejo” this weekend. This song, composed at the request of the president of the Mexican Nationalist Party (Mécista) as compensation for their controversial performances, contains messages against drug use and in favor of social peace.

“I have to speak with the prosecutor (Salvador González de los Santos) to find out what measures we could take within the State Attorney General’s Office that would also discourage this type of behavior (the “peace” corrido),” Lemus said.

He added that limiting the group’s travels outside the state restricted “their professional activity” and that therefore, “I would be in favor—but I have to talk to the prosecutor—of removing these types of restrictions.”

The song, which led the governor to “consider” being more flexible with the musicians, is completely contrary to the glorification of criminal life and its “exploits” that characterize the Sinaloa group’s repertoire. It warns that, by turning to crime or falling under the influence of drug addiction, one loses freedom and family.

Lemus suggested that, in addition to that song, the group now go to the Juvenile Courthouse to talk with the youth inmates there, play a song for them, and serve as motivation for them to find the right path and “follow the meaning of work and doing things well in life.”