Cartel violence in the border city of Tijuana continued this week as cartel gunmen murdered a Mexican narco-music singer at an upscale outdoor mall. A total of 145 homicides have been registered in Tijuana during the month of July as of late Friday night bringing the total killed in 2019 to, 1,244.

Cartel gunmen murdered a “narcocorrido” (narco-music) singer identified as Samuel Barraza Rivas, 35. The gunmen opened fire on him on earlier this week in the parking lot of the upscale Galerías Hipódromo plaza shopping center, according to a spokesperson State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) of Baja California, a local media outlet reported. The gunmen also killed a friend of Barraza Rivas identified as Luis Edel Hernández Frías, 34.

The Galerías Hipódromo is a popular plaza frequented by the international community to include U.S. diplomatic personnel. Narcocorridos are popular, yet controversial, in both Mexico and the U.S. The modern folk songs are often about drug lords or those dedicated to the trade and glorify a violent criminal lifestyle. The songs performed by narcocorrido singers usually draws the anger from rivals of drug lords that the original song is performed for.

This anger has, at times, resulted in narcocorrido singers being attacked and killed. The most recent was the killing of narcocorrido singer identified as Luis Mendoza, 23, the lead singer for a popular local band from Cajeme (Ciudad Obregon, Sonora) named “Los Ronaldos.” The singer was gunned down by cartel gunmen as reported by Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles.

According to local media reports, Misael Barraza, the brother of narcocorrido singer Samuel Barraza Rivas, was also gunned down by cartel gunmen several weeks back.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com.