MEXICO
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El Chapo’s money was longer than we all thought. It is alleged he had Mexico’s top crime cop literally on his payroll.
As per Raw Story, Genaro García Luna was once perceived by the country of Mexico as an upstanding public official who was dedicated his life to putting a finish to his country’s longstanding drug war. As the appointed secretary of public security, Luna added over 30,000 police officers to their federal force among other efforts to better fight crime. This week, his reputation took a huge hit during a federal trial where one of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s former associates, testified that he used to give Luna huge lump sums of cash to ensure he would turn a blind eye to his illegal activities.
”He also had a second job, a dirtier job, a more profitable job,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Pilmar said at Luna’s trial in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday, Jan. 23. The Sinaloa Cartel would pay to keep their operation going by paying “to buy off the federal police, to put them on the payroll, to make them them part of the organization,” Pilmar said. “The defendant took their cash and betrayed his oath to his country.”
At El Chapo’s trial, cartel confidant turned informant testified he would bring Luna millions of dollars at a time during meetings at a restaurant. The federal prosecutor claim Luna would advise the cartel on pending arrests, let drugs go unscreened at checkpoints and flip some of his local force to act as bodyguards for the drug syndicate. “Members of the jury, the evidence will show that the defendant, the person who was supposed to be in charge of fighting the Sinaloa cartel, was actually its most valuable asset,” Pilmar explained in his opening statement.
But Luna’s defense attorney Cesar de Castro alleges his client was not corrupt and all the evidence comes from criminals who wanted him dead. “What better revenge than to bury the man who led the war against the cartels?” de Castro said. “These murderers, torturers, kidnappers literally get to kill two birds with one stone.” On Dec. 9, 2019, García Luna was arrested in Dallas on charges of taking millions in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. He has pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges.
Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
Barely a week ago, Carin León was announcing the release of his conceptual live album Cura Local (En Vivo) as a “treat” he wanted to give himself for Christmas. On Thursday (Dec. 22), three of its videos are trending on YouTube, including the one for “Dame Un Beso Y Dime Adiós” featuring Grupo Yndio, at No. 1.
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Released on Dec. 15 under his own record label, CL Music, Cura Local (En Vivo) includes 33 covers of songs that Carin León grew up listening to, like “Línea Telefónica,” also by Yndio; Roy Rosas’ “Cuando Toque Mi Piel,” and Los Apsons’ “Triste Luna.”
“I wanted to bring together the great artists from Hermosillo, those that I listened to in my childhood and my teens, and have the world see them,” the singer explained in a press conference in his native Hermosillo, Sonora, in northwestern Mexico, the day before the release. “We have a unique flavor and I want people to understand much more about Carin and my connection with these people, who are part of my DNA.”
“In Sonora, from the 70s to the 2000s, we had our own sound; we had our own way of sounding like a band, like a norteño. With all due respect to my Regional Mexican colleagues, we have always been different here, we have never wanted to look like anyone else, not even in the way we dress,” he added, surrounded by some of the acts featured in the album, such as Los Honorables, Manuel “El Indio” Ortega, Oscar Toscano, Roy Rosas, Alex Ramírez and Grupo Yndio.
Of the 33 songs in the set, 28 have music videos, three of which were trending on YouTube Thursday morning: “Dame Un Beso y Dime Adiós” featuring Grupo Yndio, at No. 1 with more than 3.8 million views; “Línea Telefónica” also with Yndio, at No. 12 with over 950,000 views; and “Déjenme Llorar” featuring Martín Ramos, at No. 20 with 600,000 views. The total views for the album’s videos already surpass 10 million.
According to a detailed report by Oplaai, a company that distributes León’s music, from Dec. 15-19 Cura Local (En Vivo) exceeded 4.5 million streams, with Spotify being the main platform, followed by Apple Music.
Prior to these stats, the singer assured at the press conference that more volumes will be released “because there’s still a lot of music to rescue,” and pointed out that “although singles prevail these days, I still think of making albums and concepts.”
Here are the 10 most-viewed videos for Cura Local in its first week:
1. “Dame un Beso y Dime Adiós”, Carin León Ft. Grupo Yndio
2. “Línea Telefónica”, Carin León Ft. Grupo Yndio
3. “Déjenme Llorar”, Carin León Ft. Martín Ramos
4. “Cuando Toque mi Piel”, Carin León Ft. Roy Rosas
5. “Abrígame”, Carin León Ft. Alex Ramírez
6. “Celos”, Carin León Ft. El Boca Aguada
7. “Triste Luna”, Carin León Ft. Los Apson
8. “Presa de tu Amor”, Carin León Ft. Manuel “El Indio” Ortega
9. “Las Higueras”, Carin León Ft. Fabián Gómez
10. “Tal Vez Sea Mejor”, Carin León Ft. Fabián Gómez
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Replying to mounting criticism from the public and Mexican officials, Ticketmaster Mexico issued a formal statement on Monday (Dec. 12) following a ticketing fiasco that led to hundreds being denied access to Bad Bunny’s Mexico City shows Dec. 9 and 10.
“As has been reported, on Friday an unprecedented number of fake tickets were presented at the entrance of [Estadio Azteca], purchased outside our official channels,” wrote Ticketmaster in its release, posted on Twitter late Monday. “In addition to causing confusion among entrance officials, this situation generated a malfunction in our system, which for moments at a time, couldn’t properly identify legitimate tickets. It’s important to underscore that there was no oversale of tickets. Ticketmaster took the technological and logistical measures needed to ensure what happened on Friday would not happen on Saturday.”
Mexico’s Federal Attorney’s Office for Consumers (PROFECO), reported that more than 1,600 people were denied entry to Bad Bunny’s Friday show, leading to crowds of angry ticket-holders clamoring outside the gates of Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. At the time, Ticketmaster attributed the issue to fake tickets that caused their system to malfunction. On Saturday, just 110 were denied entry.
PROFECO, however, said the ticketing problem for the Puerto Rican superstar’s shows was triggered by an “oversale” of tickets and that Ticketmaster would be fined as a result. “The difference between those defrauded in the first and second concert is proof of it. 1,600 tickets in the first concert… and 110 in the second”, PROFECO head Ricardo Sheffield explained on TV program Aguila o sol.
The fine for Ticketmaster México could amount to up to 10% of that company’s total sales in 2021, Sheffield said.
“Ticketmaster claimed they were counterfeit, but they were all issued by them,” Sheffield said in an interview on Saturday with Radio Fórmula.
PROFECO’s investigation determined that many tickets claimed as false were indeed legitimate and had been purchased through legitimate channels, according to Sheffield.
In its new missive, Ticketmaster says the Bad Bunny shows were the most in-demand ever in the country’s history, with 4.5 million people attempting to purchase just 120,000 available seats for both Azteca dates. The company said it’s collaborating “openly and widely” with the investigation and will refund ticket buyers in addition to paying them the 20% indemnization mandated by law.
Read full statement in Spanish below:
Ticketmaster has technology that can prevent the type of fraud that allegedly impacted entry to the show, but so far it has only been deployed in the United States. The technology, known as SafeTix, digitizes tickets and eliminates easy to duplicate barcodes that can be resold to multiple people. It’s unclear when the technology will be available in countries outside of the U.S.
Ticketmaster Mexico had been owned and operated by OCESA-CIE since the 1980s but last year Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation finalized its acquisition of Ticketmaster Mexico, transitioning the company from a license holder to a Ticketmaster subsidiary. Ticketmaster Mexico is forecast to sell 20 million tickets this year.
Massive overselling of tickets for the last two concerts of Bad Bunny’s World’s Hottest Tour in Mexico City this weekend led to hundred of people being denied entry to the superstar’s shows and will have million-dollar consequences for Ticketmaster Mexico, according to Mexican authorities.
The head of Mexico’s Federal Attorney’s Office for Consumers (PROFECO), Ricardo Sheffield, told the Televisa network on Sunday that those affected must receive a 100% refund plus a 20% compensation, and that the company will also be fined.
In a statement, Ticketmaster México acknowledged on Saturday that “the access problems were the result of the presentation of an unprecedented number of counterfeit tickets, which caused an unusual crowd of people and an intermittent operation of our system” which “generated confusion and made entrance to the stadium complicated, with the unfortunate consequence that some legitimate tickets were denied entry.”
Sheffield confirmed the ticketing problem for the Puerto Rican super star’s shows was triggered by an “oversale” of tickets. A total of 1,600 faulty tickets were reported for the first concert Dec. 9, and 110 for the second on Dec. 10. Both shows were at Estadio Azteca. Organizers said some 80,000 people attended each night.
“The difference between those defrauded in the first and second concert is proof of it. 1,600 tickets in the first concert… and 110 in the second”, Sheffield explained on TV program Aguila o sol.
The fine for Ticketmaster México could amount to up to 10% of that company’s total sales in 2021, the official said.
“Ticketmaster claimed they were counterfeit, but they were all issued by them,” Sheffield said in an interview on Saturday with Radio Fórmula.
According to the Mexican official, in its investigation, PROFECO determined that many tickets claimed as false were indeed legitimate and had been purchased through legitimate channels.
Those affected are also preparing a class action suit against the company. PROFECO opened an investigation and invited those who had irregularities with their tickets for Bad Bunny and other major events to file a complaint.
“As we are a fiscal authority, if they don’t want to pay of their own will, we will seize their accounts then, and they will pay because they have to,” said Sheffield.
The ticket issue delayed Bad Bunny’s show on Friday for almost an hour, while a crowd of hundreds outside Estadio Azteca demanded an explanation. Some people climbed through the main gate of the compound in an attempt to gain entry but were stopped by law enforcement. On Saturday, PROFECO announced plans to assist those affected.
Billboard Español reached out to both Ocesa and Ticketmaster Mexico for comment on Friday and Monday, but had not received a reply by press time. On Saturday, Ocesa sent Billboard the press release issued from Ticketmaster Mexico about what had happened at Estadio Atzeca the night before. Last year, Live Nation acquired 51% of the operations of the Mexican company Ocesa and Ticketmaster México.
Cancellations or duplications of tickets for concerts operated by Ticketmaster México and concert promoter Ocesa have increased in recent months for massive concerts, including those of Daddy Yankee, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa, according to complaints from users of the popular ticket sales platform.
The situation in Mexico comes after fans of pop star Taylor Swift collectively sued Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation in the United States for the chaotic ticket sales of her The Eras Tour. Thousands of the singer’s followers were unable to get tickets for her concerts.