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USA Today
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Mexican singer Julión Álvarez says his visa was revoked ahead of sold-out Texas show
Mexican singer Julión Álvarez said his visa to enter the United States was revoked before a sold-out May 24 show at AT&T Stadium in Texas. His group, Julión Álvarez y su Norteño Banda, had to postpone the evening concert at the Dallas Cowboys' Arlington stadium with nearly 50,000 tickets sold, according to a May 23 news release. In a video posted to Instagram, Álvarez said he was told the morning of May 23 his work visa was canceled. 'It's not possible for us to go to the United States to fulfill our commitment to you,' Álvarez, 42, said in Spanish. 'It's a situation that's out of our hands.' Concert promoter CMN and Álvarez's record label Copar Music said they were looking to reschedule the performance with tickets remaining valid, the AT&T Stadium news release said. They would work to refund tickets in the coming days. 'I apologize to all of you,' Álvarez, who is called King of the Ticket Office, said. "And God willing, we'll be in contact to share more information." In an email response to USA TODAY, the U.S. State Department declined to comment on Álvarez's announcement, since visa records are confidential by law. In recent years, Mexican artists have increased in popularity in the United States. At the same time, narcocorridos, or drug ballads, have gained mainstream followings in Mexico and abroad, including in the United States. The style has drawn the ire of officials in Mexico and the United States. Álvarez is the latest Mexican musician to say he had his visa revoked to perform in the country during the second Trump administration, as officials look to cut down on immigration. Earlier this year, the State Department revoked the visas for band members of Los Alegres del Barranco after the band displayed an image of Mexican drug lord Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," while performing a narcocorrido dedicated to him at their concert near Guadalajara, Mexico, in late March. The group had a planned American tour. In early April, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau confirmed the department canceled Los Alegres' work and tourist visas for "glorifying" Oseguera Cervantes, who is head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The Trump administration has designated CJNG and other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for an investigation of Los Alegres' concert. A spokesperson for the band defended their right to make their music freely, without punishment, in an interview with Billboard Español. It wasn't immediately clear why Álvarez's visa had been revoked ahead of his May 24 show. An award-winning regional Mexican artist, Álvarez plays traditional corridos, or ballads, along with mariachi and cumbia. He's known for songs about love or heartbreak, such as 'El Amor De Su Vida' and 'Cero Empatía.' In 2017, he had his visa revoked after the Treasury Department accused him and former Mexican professional soccer player Rafa Marquez of having ties to a drug trafficker identified under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. American officials accused them of acting as fronts to hold assets for the trafficker. Álvarez denied the accusations. The designation had him banned from Spotify, Billboard reported. In 2022, he was taken off the list, and Spotify allowed his music back on its platform, where he has nearly 17 million monthly listeners. Álvarez then was able to perform in the United States again. In mid-April, Álvarez had three sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles after years of not playing in the country, according to the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
USA Today
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Mexican singer Julión Álvarez says his visa was revoked ahead of sold-out Texas show
Mexican singer Julión Álvarez says his visa was revoked ahead of sold-out Texas show Show Caption Hide Caption Trump administration restores visa registrations for foreign students The Trump administration restored visa registrations for potentially thousands of foreign students. Mexican singer Julión Álvarez said his visa to enter the United States was revoked before a sold-out May 24 show at AT&T Stadium in Texas. His group, Julión Álvarez y su Norteño Banda, had to postpone the evening concert at the Dallas Cowboys' Arlington stadium with nearly 50,000 tickets sold, according to a May 23 news release. In a video posted to Instagram, Álvarez said he was told the morning of May 23 his work visa was canceled. 'It's not possible for us to go to the United States to fulfill our commitment to you,' Álvarez, 42, said in Spanish. 'It's a situation that's out of our hands.' Concert promoter CMN and Álvarez's record label Copar Music said they were looking to reschedule the performance with tickets remaining valid, the AT&T Stadium news release said. They would work to refund tickets in the coming days. 'I apologize to all of you,' Álvarez, who is called King of the Ticket Office, said. "And God willing, we'll be in contact to share more information." In an email response to USA TODAY, the U.S. State Department declined to comment on Álvarez's announcement, since visa records are confidential by law. In recent years, Mexican artists have increased in popularity in the United States. At the same time, narcocorridos, or drug ballads, have gained mainstream followings in Mexico and abroad, including in the United States. The style has drawn the ire of officials in Mexico and the United States. Álvarez is the latest Mexican musician to say he had his visa revoked to perform in the country during the second Trump administration, as officials look to cut down on immigration. Earlier this year, the State Department revoked the visas for band members of Los Alegres del Barranco after the band displayed an image of Mexican drug lord Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," while performing a narcocorrido dedicated to him at their Guadalajara, Mexico, concert in late March. The group had a planned American tour. In early April, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau confirmed the department canceled Los Alegres' work and tourist visas for "glorifying" Oseguera Cervantes, who is head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The Trump administration has designated CJNG and other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for an investigation of Los Alegres' concert. A spokesperson for the band defended their right to make their music freely, without punishment, in an interview with Billboard Español. It wasn't immediately clear why Álvarez's visa had been revoked ahead of his May 24 show. An award-winning regional Mexican artist, Álvarez plays traditional corridos, or ballads, along with mariachi and cumbia. He's known for songs about love or heartbreak, such as 'El Amor De Su Vida' and 'Cero Empatía.' In 2017, he had his visa revoked after the Treasury Department accused him and former Mexican professional soccer player Rafa Marquez of having ties to a drug trafficker identified under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. American officials accused them of acting as fronts to hold assets for the trafficker. Álvarez denied the accusations. The designation had him banned from Spotify, Billboard reported. In 2022, he was taken off the list, and Spotify allowed his music back on its platform, where he has nearly 17 million monthly listeners. Álvarez then was able to perform in the United States again. In mid-April, Álvarez had three sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles after years of not playing in the country, according to the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
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The Independent
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
An absurdist fable for fascism, The Almeida's production of Rhinoceros is a rare beast on London's stages
Eugène Ionesco's 1959 absurdist play Rhinoceros has long been seen as an allegory for the rise of fascism, showing how people are gaslighted, coerced and coddled into putting up with a bizarre new status quo. So it would be easy for Omar Elerian's adaptation to play up the obvious Trump parallels. Refreshingly, he hasn't, instead crafting something that deliberately floats above ugly political realities, buoyant as a child's balloon. Here, Sopé Dìrísù (Gangs of London) plays Bérenger, a scruffy everyman surrounded by conformist bores in white coats. Not least his sanctimonious friend Jean, given a winning smugness by Joshua McGuire (Cheaters), who tells him off for boozing and not wearing a tie. When a rhino rampages through his small French town, Bérenger is horrified, but his friends and colleagues soon bury themselves in dry philosophical debates that accustom them to a new pachyderm-centric way of life. Elerian takes a Brechtian approach to the play, reading out Ionesco's elaborate stage directions and comically misinterpreting them for the audience's amusement (a cat is played by a giant watermelon). Everything is artificial here, from the live foley sound effects to the strange swirly shapes into which the actors' hair has been teased. This deliberate non-naturalism makes it hard to settle into the world of the play, especially since Elerian has chucked so many different jarring elements into the mix here. Some early scenes inflate like over-proved dough, with their long preambles and verbal repartee that's too literally translated to achieve full hilarity. But as the leathery-skinned beasts multiply, this production's power grows, helped by wonderfully imaginative bits of physical theatre. McGuire's transformation into a silver-skinned monster is a marvel, his shifting body capturing how attempts to empathise with extreme positions can open you up to losing your own values. Hayley Carmichael quakes like a freshly-birthed faun after her encounter with a rhino, but soon her terror matures into a surreal kind of love. And Paul Hunter acts as an unofficial emcee and anchor in this strange world, gently inculcating the audience into its rules. Dìrísù initially feels a bit lost here, giving a straightforwardly truthful performance among all these heightened grotesques. But there's a mounting power in that as the final scenes draw in and chaos reigns, thundering hooves crushing everything he used to know. A production like this is a rare beast on London's stages – with its gleeful non-naturalism, witty physical theatre and tooting kazoos – and it deserves to be appreciated.
Jordan Times
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
Israel defies UN and vows to cut ties with UNRWA, with US blessing
An overall view shows the United Nations Security Council during a meeting concerning the UN Relief and Works Agency at UN headquarters in New York City on Tuesday (AFP photo) United Nations, UnitedStates — Israel, backed by Washington, will cease contact with the UN's Palestinian humanitarian relief agency UNRWA and any body acting on its behalf, its UN envoy said Tuesday, drawing condemnation from aid groups. Signaling a shift in the US position on the agency by the administration of President Donald Trump, a US envoy voiced support for the decision and called for a probe into Israeli claims UNRWA sites were used by Palestinian militant group Hamas. UNRWA's offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, including those living in Gaza, devastated by 15 months of war with Israel. Fighting destroyed hospitals and sparked outbreaks of infectious disease, while hundreds of thousands of Gazans faced starvation conditions and have depended on food aid. The organization says it has brought in 60 percent of the food to have reached Gaza since the start of the war, which was ignited by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. But it has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country's security. "The legislation concerning UNRWA activities in Israel will officially come into force in 48 hours on January 30... UNRWA must cease its operations and evacuate all premises it operates in Jerusalem," the Israeli envoy, Danny Danon, told the UN Security Council. "The legislation forbids UNWRA from operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, and forbids any contact between Israeli officials and UNWRA. "Israel remains committed to its commitments under international law." Israeli orders for UNRWA to leave its offices in East Jerusalem prompted a strongly worded response from UN chief Antonio Guterres who demanded Israel "retract it." His intervention sets up a possible showdown between authorities and UNRWA staff when the deadline expires Thursday. - 'Jeopardizing' peace - Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly October 7, 2023 assault, and insists that other organizations can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction -- something the UN disputes. A series of probes, including one led by France's former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality related issues" at UNRWA -- but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations. The agency's chief Philippe Lazzarini said UNRWA capacity "far exceeds that of any other entity." He called Israel's actions against UNRWA a "relentless assault... harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory." But the United States threw its weight behind the move of its closest Middle East ally, accusing Lazzarini of overstating the impact of the decision. "The United States supports the implementation of this decision," said Dorothy Shea, a United States representative to the UN. "UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force (out) the entire humanitarian response is irresponsible and dangerous," she said. "UNRWA is not and never has been the only option." Under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, Washington had supported UNRWA's continuing its work -- but withheld funding at the insistence of Congress. On Israeli claims that Hamas used UNRWA sites, which in Gaza include schools, clinics and depots, to hold hostages, Shea said "it is vital for a full and independent investigation to assess these very serious allegations." The Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said only UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority could help his people. "Yet Israel is demanding that everyone forsake them and work around them, setting us all up for failure," he said. Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. During the attack, militants took into Gaza 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in the territory, including dozens Israel says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable. A ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is now in place, intended to bring an end to the more than 15 months of war.
