Mexican city to fine performers of 'misogynistic' songs

The northern Mexican city of Chihuahua will issue fines for live performances of songs deemed to be misogynistic.

The city council has passed a measure which allows it to impose levies of up to 1.2m pesos ($72,000; £56,000) for the playing of lyrics that "discriminate" against women amid a "pandemic" of gender-based violence.

Ten women and girls are killed every day in Mexico, the United Nations says.

Chihuahua has previously clamped down on songs seen as glorifying drug crime.

The new measure will target lyrics promoting women's "denigration, discrimination, marginalisation or exclusion".

Chihuahua city councillors said that it was aimed at protecting the dignity of women and the family, and to uphold human rights law.

In a video published on Facebook, Mayor Marco Bonilla said that seven out of 10 calls to the city's emergency services were related to domestic violence, particularly against women.

He added that the principle of freedom of speech meant that the city could not ban groups that perform songs which denigrate women from appearing.

"But what we can do, is to ensure that the fines we impose [for such performances] go to shelters for abused women or to programmes to prevent violence."

The measure drew criticism from Francisco Sánchez, a congressman for the wider Chihuahua state, who described the move as "useless and anachronistic".

Local media questioned whether it could affect future concerts by well-known performers of reggaeton and the popular genre of corridos tumbados, such as Mexican singer Peso Pluma and Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny.

This is not the city's first effort to penalise music performances seen as being linked to violence in one form or another.

Los Tigres del Norte, one of Mexico's best-known bands, was fined in 2017 for playing a narcocorrido: a song glorifying drug trafficking. However, the sanction did little to diminish the band's popularity.

The popular resort city of Cancún went even further earlier this year, banning events the city authorities deem to "promote violence".

Following the new measure, Mexican singer El Komander cancelled his concert in Cancún.