Valentín Elizalde and Other Murders: The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas’ Relationship with Regional Mexican Singers

There is a link between regional Mexican music and the world of drug trafficking. Over the years, the musical genre became part of how narcoculture took root in Mexico and sought out something as popular as it was controversial: music, as a means of expression.

Acclaimed by many and criticized by others, corridos—rancheros, progressives, or tumbados—have portrayed part of the history of the Mexican underworld. However, while this doesn’t define all Mexican music, for some artists, this factor has come at a high price.

From being accused of participating in money laundering schemes, as recently occurred with Gerardo Ortiz, to narco-banners containing threats, to accusations of allegedly supporting criminal organizations, as was the case with Peso Pluma, various exponents of the genre have been embroiled in circumstances related to organized crime that have little to do with their work as singers.

Although the situation has been repeated in various parts of the country, during the years in which the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas accumulated greater power, brutal episodes were recorded in the northeast of the country that claimed the lives of some of the most acclaimed singers of the genre, who, in one way or another, were linked to these criminal organizations.

The Murder of the Golden Rooster

On November 25, 2006, northeast Mexico witnessed the snuffing out of one of the most cherished promises of regional Mexican music. His name was Valentín Elizalde, originally from Navojoa, Sonora, and 27 years old when his murder made headlines in national newspapers.

Nothing was a coincidence, as his distinctive voice and compositions had already established him as one of the most successful regional Mexican performers of those years, leading him to tour various states in Mexico to give concerts.

His rise in the industry took a 180-degree turn when his schedule included a performance in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, a border city that for decades had been under the control of the Gulf Cartel and some of its many offshoots.

Some time later, Jaime González Durán, alias El Hummer, who was identified as an original member of Los Zetas, was linked to the murder of El Gallo de Oro, as he was the plaza boss in Reynosa on the day the events occurred. Although the criminal leader was arrested in 2008 and extradited to the United States in 2022, he was never charged or prosecuted for the murder of the Te quiero así singer.