TIJUANA, Mexico (Tribune News Service) — A New Year’s Eve concert featuring Mexican narco corridos vocal star Larry Hernández was canceled after three grenades were thrown outside the venue, Mexican authorities confirmed Tuesday. Narco corridos, which translates as “drug ballads,” are songs about Mexican drug cartels that often portray the cartels in a positive light and glorify their actions.

On Sunday, people in a vehicle threw what appeared to be fragmentation grenades outside the Casa Blanca entertainment center in eastern Tijuana, authorities said.

The devices did not detonate, and the Mexican army arrived on site to remove them, said Fernando Sánchez, Tijuana’s secretary of security and citizen protection. No arrests have been made, he said.

Billboards advertising Hernández’s concert could still be seen outside the venue on Tuesday afternoon. A message alerting ticket-holders about refunds was posted at the venue’s box office, where people were showing up to ask for their money back.

Evaristo Cabrales, a Tijuana resident, said he and his group arrived to the concert Sunday to find the commotion. “We saw a bunch of police and they didn’t let us in, so we had to leave,” Cabrales said.

One of Hernández’s best-known releases is his 2009 breakthrough album, “16 Narco Corridos.” In 2015, he released “16 Narco Corridos Vol. 2.” The Los Angeles-born singer grew up in Pueblos Unidos-Estacion Opispo in Culiacán, a city in the state of Sinaloa, which was the home base of Mexican drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. Guzmán is now serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison.

Hernández’s concert is the latest in a series canceled last year in Tijuana. Peso Pluma and Fuerza Regida canceled their shows in October at the Caliente Stadium after banners with alleged threats signed with the initials of a drug cartel were found in the city.

Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila said that so far there is no indication of a direct threat either to Hernández or to the concert venue, and the case is under investigation.

“Unfortunately because of the events that just happened at the place where I was going to perform tonight, it is impossible to do so,” Hernández said in a video posted on his Facebook account. “These are things that are out of one’s control, so I apologize and send you a hug.”

In November, the Tijuana City Council unanimously approved a municipal code to ban narco corridos from being played in public.

The regulation imposes a sanction of up to 1 million pesos — around $60,000 — on anyone who “broadcasts, exhibits, displays, shows, performs or reproduces music, videos, images or any other similar that promotes the culture of violence or advocates crime or the perpetrators of illicit acts in the presentation of public shows or entertainment.”

“If they come to sing other types of music, they are welcome,” Caballero said at the time in a Facebook Live video prior to the city council meeting.

Sánchez noted Tuesday that the concerts that have been canceled in Tijuana share a similarity of being by performers who sometimes sing music that glorifies crime.

“In Tijuana there were more than 300 concerts throughout the year where absolutely nothing happened,” he added.

Union-Tribune music critic George Varga contributed to this article.

©2024 The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Visit sandiegouniontribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.