Mexican singer Julión Álvarez cancels his concert in Texas after being denied a visa due to alleged ties with drug cartel
The federal government links the artist to a Sinaloa Cartel kingpin, the same reason he was sanctioned from 2017 to 2022, when the Biden Administration exonerated him.
Mexican singer Julión Álvarez
Texan fans of singer Julión Álvarez were left disappointed and without a concert. Immigration authorities revoked the visa of the Mexican singer and his team, as announced by the artist on his Instagram account days before the date of the show.
"Unfortunately, we have to inform you that the event as scheduled will not take place," Julión Álvarez lamented in a video in which he announced that neither he nor his team have the permission to travel to the United States and perform at the AT&T in Arlington, Texas as planned.
The show was already prepared for Alvarez's thousands of fans, who will have to wait until the singer's legal situation is resolved to see him on U.S. soil. The show had hung the sold-out sign with more than 50,000 confirmed attendees.
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It is not the first time the Mexican artist has been in this situation. Alvarez was subject to a travel ban to the United States from 2017 to 2022. It was the Biden Administration who re-qualified him as eligible for a visa.
Winner of several Lo Nuestro and Billboard awards for Mexican and Latin music, Alvarez was thus sanctioned in 2017 for alleged ties to Mexican drug cartels.
Relations with drug traffickers
Alvarez said at a press conference that year that when he met him, Flores Hernandez introduced himself as a "businessman" and "administrator" of a place called "La Camelia," in the western state of Jalisco, where the Mexican composer arrived to perform concerts along with his musical group.
"I went twice to La Camelia through other people, I never had his (Flores Hernandez's) cell phone. He didn't hire me directly," said Álvarez, 34.
Álvarez was not the only Mexican sanctioned by the first Trump administration. He was part of a list of 22 people and 43 entities sanctioned for alleged links to drug trafficking. He was joined by Rafael Márquez, a former Mexican soccer player who played for Atlas and FC Barcelona.
According to the show's promoter, the organization will work to reschedule the concert with a new date. Tickets purchased for the cancelled concert in Texas will be valid for the new date, which has not yet been announced.
In this second Trump Administration, Alvarez is not the first Mexican artist to be denied his visa to come to the country to perform. In April, the State Department denied temporary visitor visas to Los Alegres del Barranco, a band that sings songs glorifying drug cartels.
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