A recent wave of attacks against police has put Colombia’s security forces on edge. The government has blamed most of the recent police killings on the Gulf Clan, a drug-trafficking group that runs extortion rackets and exports cocaine to the US.
Ariel Camacho, lead singer of the group Los Plebes del Rancho, was killed in a car accident on Wednesday. Just 22 years old, Camacho was already a big name in the world of narcocorridos, Mexico’s musical odes to drug trafficking culture.
Narcocorrido ballads about outlaw drug traffickers have been a staple of Mexican pop music for decades. But now, the songs are getting more violent and seem to reflect the growing influence of drug cartels over the Mexican state.
Iguala, Mexico is a place that’s hostile to outsiders and heavily controlled by drug cartels. That makes it an extremely difficult — and dangerous — place to look for the 43 missing students who were allegedly abducted by the local police force.