Pop singer cancels Monterrey concert, citing concern over violence in northern Mexico

Mexican pop singer cancels concert, cites violence

MEXICO CITY — Mexican pop singer Reyli Barba said he is indefinitely postponing a benefit concert that had been planned for Saturday in the northern city of Monterrey, citing concerns about recent violence there.

Reyli — as the former singer of the group Elefante is known — is the latest in a series of musicians who have canceled events in Mexico, reportedly because of concerns about violence from the country’s crackdown on drug gangs. He is best known for hits recorded with Elefante such as “Asi Es La Vida.”

Reyli’s concert was intended to raise money to help build a school in the impoverished southern state of Chiapas. A statement issued by his representatives Monday said the suspension was “due to the climate of lack of safety that has occurred in recent weeks in the city of Monterrey.”

The prosperous industrial city, Mexico’s third largest, and other areas of the north have seen a surge in drug gang violence.

Five people died in a panicked stampede at a May 2 concert near Monterrey when the sound of gunshots set off a rush to the exits. Investigators say one or two of the hall’s emergency exits may have been blocked or shut.

In April, thousands fled a fair in the Gulf coast city of Tampico amid reports of a shooting just as Mexican star Jenni Rivera was about to perform.

Singers Juan Gabriel and Ana Gabriel canceled their planned appearances at a fair in the western state of Michoacan in April, after gunmen ambushed the state attorney general as she was leaving the event. Four people were killed and 10 wounded in that attack, including several fairgoers who were returning from the event.

The norteno group Los Tucanes de Tijuana canceled a concert in the Pacific coast state of Nayarit, after a gunfight broke out in the town where they were scheduled to play.

The newspaper Excelsior reported that the border city of Ciudad Juarez canceled its annual fair due to what Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said was “the lack of appropriate conditions needed to held a quality fair.” Drug violence there killed 2,601 people in 2009.

Among the 40 groups present at the Mexico City regional music Festival Vive Grupero, several — including Los Askis, Saul El Jaguar, Francisco “El Gallo” Elizalde and Vagon Chicano — acknowledged they had canceled events because of security concerns.

More than 22,700 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since late 2006.