Mexican singer Sergio Vega AKA "El Shaka" was shot dead June 27—only hours after he had issued a statement denying reports that he had been murdered. Vega was on his way to a concert in Alhuey, Sinaloa, when gunmen opened fire on his red Cadillac as it passed through the pueblo of Barobampo. "It's happened to me for years now, someone tells a radio station or a newspaper I've been killed, or suffered an accident," Vega told entertainment website La Oreja hours before his death. (El Debate, Mazatlán, June 27; BBC News, CBS News, June 28)

Last September, Vega was briefly detained and questioned by the federal Special Investigative Sub-prosecutor on Organized Crime (SIEDO) at the Mexico City airport on suspicion of ties to the Gulf Cartel. (Milenio, Sept. 20, 2009)

See our last posts on Mexico, the narco wars, and the war on musicians.

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