Mexican authorities are holding members of musical groups Los Cadetes de Linares and Grupo Torrente in custody for another 40 days.
Seven members of the two bands were arrested along with and Norteño singer Ramon Ayala back on December 11th.
Ayala, Los Cadetes de Linares and Grupo Torrente were playing at a Christmas party for the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel in Morelos.
Three people were killed during a shootout with authorities at that party.
Cartel leader Arturo Beltran-Leyva was killed in a shootout in Mexico City a few days later.
Ayala was released for health reasons and returned to his Rio Grande Valley home in Hidalgo back in
But Los Cadetes de Linares singer Hugo Dante Grajales Cantu and the other six musicans have remained in custody since.
Under Mexican law, people can held for 40 days during an investigation but extensions can be added.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR) requested that Grajales and the six other musicians be held for another 40 days.
A written statement from the PGR shows that authorities continue investigate the musicians’ alleged links to the Beltran-Leyva Cartel and organized crime.
A Mexican federal judge granted the attorney general’s office request on Tuesday.
The PGR identified the musicians being held as:
- Hugo Dante Grajales Cantú
- Gustavo Guerrero García
- Jorge Luis Verástegui Lerma
- Guadalupe Fidencio Tijerina Peña
- Rolando Ávila Muñoz
- José Francisco García Cortés
- José Carlos Salinas Rodríguez
The same federal judge also extended the custody for 11 other people with alleged links to the Beltran-Leyva Cartel:
- Roberto Jaime Hernández (aka "El Roberto")
- Mario Alberto Vázquez Piña (aka "El Jarry")
- Eduardo Alejandro Carballo Guillén (aka El Gallo" o "Ellalito")
- Gerardo Leonel Gómez (aka "El Leo")
- Alberto Juárez Cano (aka "El Beto Juárez")
- Nicéforo Nava Carvajal (aka "El Nicéforo")
- Marco Rogelio Romero Arias (aka "El Zuli" o Marco Aurelio García Guzmán)
- Antonio Ruiz González (aka "El Antonio” o “Tony")
- Atanasio Reyes Vizcarra or Ignacio Domínguez Corrales (aka "Nacho")
- Roberto Castillo Adame or José Alexander García Hidalgo (aka "El Roberto")
- Carlos Eduardo Martell Delgado (aka "El Carlitos")
They are being held as part of an organized crime, weapons and drug investigation.
Click here to read a copy of the written statement from the PGR