CJNG Threatens Employees of Marco Flores, from Banda Jerez

“HEARST” and “Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat 

Marco Antonio Flores, the singer-turned-politician who once played private gigs for Zetas cartel figure El Lazca, announced that he would be closing his hotel in Zacatecas because the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) has been threatening his employees.

Warning: Some graphic images below this point.

Marco & Banda Jerez

In the late 1980s, a local music teacher named Perfecto Flores created a band in the town of Jerez, Zacatecas, which was made up of his music students. Later on his son, a singer named Marco Antonio Flores, began performing with the group. In 2000, the band became more formalized and took on the name “La No. 1 Banda Jerez with Marco A. Flores”, often shortened to just “Banda Jerez”. 

Later that year, the group released their first album, titled “Nomás Por Ti Me Emborracho”, produced by Sony Music. One of the album’s songs called “La Cabrona” proved to be a hit and became popular in both Mexico and the United States. 

Banda Jerez went on to become a successful group, releasing a number of albums between 2004 – 2014. The group primarily focused on re-working traditional ranchera songs which focus on generic themes of love and heartache. They were considered to be a clean band, which was not particularly known for singing narco corridos. 

Narco corridos are songs which praise the criminal endeavors of a certain cartel figure, which are paid for by the cartel figure themselves. Banda Jerez did, however, have a few songs in their discography which wax rhapsodic about the generic narco lifestyle, such as El Comboy and El Zacatecano.

On April 22, 2012, the band was allegedly paid to perform a private concert for Lazca again, this time in honor of his girlfriend’s birthday, according to newspaper Orlando Sentinel. The concert was held in Monclova, Coahuila. 

At about 1:30 am, federal law enforcement raided the concert in an attempt to arrest Lazca, but the Zetas figure managed to slip away. The members of Banda Jerez were escorted to the federal Attorney General’s Office and interrogated about who was at the party and who hired them to perform. 

The band’s attorney, Enrique Frausto, stated that his clients did not have any direct contact with the people who hired them for concerts. He emphasized that the band was not arrested by federal authorities and was merely asked about how many people attended the event and who was at the gig. 

In June 2012, Banda Jerez released the song El Comandante 50, a narco-corrido which glorifies a Zetas leader named Iván Velázquez Caballero, alias “El Talibán”, who operates in the group’s home state of Zacatecas.

The Kidnapping

The month after their song praising Zetas’ El Talibán was released, Banda Jerez’s lead singer Marco Flores was kidnapped, allegedly by members of the rival cartel group the Gulf Cartel. 

Marco Flores was abducted while traveling to his ranch in Jerez, Zacatecas, and held in captivity for a month while his kidnappers negotiated a ransom price with his family. In the end, his family was said to have paid $5 million pesos for his safe release. (Equivalent to $8,145,258 pesos in 2023, or $441,680 USD in 2023.)

Marco Antonio was later interviewed about the kidnapping, as seen in the video above. He said as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido:

Male Reporter: After living the most terrifying month of his life after being kidnapped by an armed criminal cell near his ranch in Zacatecas, Marco Antonio Flores, lead singer of the musical group Banda Jerez, shares the details of the ordeal.

Marco Flores: It was a group of armed men in a truck with police lights. They stopped us, they stopped me, I was handcuffed, blinded, and they took me away. There were insults, there were blows, there was everything the first day. Sometimes we ate very little, a tortilla or something daily.

Male Reporter: During his days in captivity Marcó was threatened with death countless times. But he tried to have a peaceful relationship with his guards and even sang to them.

Reporter #2: At any time did they talk about killing you?

Marco Flores: Every day, very often. I remember telling one of the guys who was guarding me that if the order was as they say kill them. Well, I wanted it to be over quick. Once in a while I’d sing a song or something so that everything felt a little smoother there.

Male Reporter: Once free the singer received medical attention and chose not to report it.

Marco Flores: A few days ago they released me and I was hospitalized. I was a little relieved because of the medicine, because of everything, I had infections, I had everything. I don’t want any problems. I don’t know who they are.

Male Reporter: Now he is trying to enjoy his family more while he decides where he will live, the United States being a possibility.

Marco Flores: In all the time I have been working, I have never really been there with them. I’m always working. Trying to save some money, save something for the kids, for their school. There’s a real possibility of me moving to the United States.

Female Reporter: What would be left for you to make this decision?

Marco Flores: I’d have to see what my wife wants.

The Concert Beat Down

Marco Flores ended up not moving to the US and he continued to lead the group. Years later, on September 6, 2015, Banda Jerez were invited to perform a set at a horse race, in the US, at Kersey, Colorado.

During their performance Marco ran off the stage, jumped a fence, and attempted to beat a man with his microphone stand. His bandmates, their security team, and others tried to break the fight apart and hold Marco back. Video of this incident can be seen below. 

Marco later explained that the man he attacked was one of the cartel figures who kidnapped him. Marco says he recognized the kidnapper in the crowd and at some point the man “provoked him from below the stage.”

It’s interesting to note that an article noted that “the person the singer hit also had a lot of security with him.” This seems to imply that the kidnapper Marco attempted to fight was important enough to have his own security team. It is also interesting to note that this security team was brought to a public event in the US.

His Time as a Politician

In 2016, Marco Antonio made his first foray into politics, running for governor for the Encuentro Social political party, in a race which he ultimately lost. 

In 2018, he ran to be a representative for Zacatecas in federal Congress, for the political party coalition PT-Morena-PES, which he also lost.

In 2020, an exodus began. As the territorial war between Sinaloa Cartel – Mayo and the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) heated up, residents in certain areas of Zacatecas began to leave their homes, traveling to other areas to temporarily escape the full-out battles taking place. Jerez is a town which was hit particularly hard and many locals fled the area. 

In February 2022, Marco Flores spoke out at a congressional event about the violence which was plaguing Zacatecas.  He said “If the federal government doesn’t listen to us,  I myself am going to summon the people to take up arms up there, it is not fair.” 

Marco was joined by a spokesman for Jerez residents who were forced to flee their homes, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, spoke up about how they were still being billed by the federal electricity commission for electricity to the houses that they had left years ago.  

Humberto Salazar, mayor of Jerez, urged the congressmen to listen to the voice of a  dying people and asked for concrete action to help thousands of families who live without being able to return to their homes, saying “They cannot work, due to the unsafe conditions we are experiencing. In the provinces they are suffering. Here in Jerez they are suffering.” 

“I want to ask you, with all due respect -and believe me, I know that as a surgeon, if I didn’t fix the problem, my patient would die – that’s why I am so sure that we have to be decisive, because Jerez is dying due to the lack of safety.”

Later that year, Marco Flores announced that his driver had been killed in a random attack of violence which killed four others.

“A group of hitmen arrived at the bar in Fresnillo and opened fire on all those who were there, without distinction- as if it were an act of terrorism against the innocent population, where my driver was. He was an innocent person.”

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