Mexican influencer César Gastélum was live-streaming outside a fast-food restaurant when two men on a motorbike stopped next to him, pulled out a gun, and shot him in the head. His brutal murder in Culiacán, the capital of the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, happened in just a few seconds on Tuesday in front of an audience of thousands of social media users watching his TikTok stream.
Investigations and Possible Links to Cartels
Federal authorities in Mexico have opened investigations to determine whether Gastélum and another influencer, Valeria Márquez, were killed due to their possible connections to criminal organizations. In Gastélum’s case, they are reviewing posts in which he referenced a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to María Fernanda Arocha, head of research for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean at the non-governmental organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), there have been 20 attacks against influencers in Sinaloa, resulting in the deaths of 14 people since 2024.
Experts say that some influencers may have become a new form of corrido singers, with their videos working as a modern take on the narcocorridos – ballads about the trafficking underworld that drug kingpins used to praise themselves and communicate with each other.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
