Culiacán Palenque 2026 Canceled as Refund Fears Return

Culiacán’s 2026 Palenque has been canceled, one day before the concerts were due to begin. Organizers say ticket buyers will be refunded, with details for physical and online purchases still to be announced.

The cancellation brings back an accusation made before ticket sales were due to begin: that La Mayiza would collect the money, cancel the concerts and keep the cash to finance the war. A new text circulating with the cancellation repeats that allegation. I have not seen financial records or other evidence establishing it.

The Palenque is Culiacán’s annual concert series at the livestock-fair grounds. Fiesta MX Entertainment had advertised this year’s program for November 12–29, with tickets through the venue and QueShow. The cancellation concerns those concerts; it does not establish that the wider Feria Ganadera has been canceled.

On October 31, I published a message signed I.A.G., the initials associated with Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar. It accused La Mayiza of having two ways to profit: cancel after taking the ticket money, or attack concertgoers and blame Los Chapitos. Those were accusations in the message, not findings from an investigation into the ticket accounts.

A second message, signed CJNG-JGL and published here on November 2, went further. It threatened to shoot performers and singled out Arley Pérez and Panter Bélico. “We are at war. This is no time to celebrate,” it said.

By November 7, an online communiqué signed “MF”, attributed to Mayito Flaco’s camp, was circulating. It warned Iván Archivaldo’s people against harming civilians or artists attending the Palenque: “Don’t forget that you have families too.” It invoked La Mayiza’s supposed code, accused CJNG of sheltering Los Chapitos’ operators in Jalisco, and threatened to send La Barredora MF into that state.

The November 8 communiqué signed CJNG-IAG then answered the Palenque’s defenders and addressed Ismael “Mayito Flaco” Zambada Sicairos directly. It rejected his faction’s claimed code: “MF, you and your people have no code.” It also threatened people who cooperated with that side.

The signatures identify the camps the documents claim to speak for. I have not independently established who wrote or authorized them.

Meanwhile, the venue was attacked on November 2, and a threatening banner appeared on November 4. The concerts were still being defended publicly as viable after those incidents. Now, a day before the advertised opening, they are off.

There is a real refund history behind the concern. The previous organizer, Casa Blanca Live, was still reporting unfinished refunds for the canceled 2024 edition in September. Fiesta MX Entertainment says it is a separate administration and will not assume those old obligations. That September disclaimer concerns the 2024 debts, not a refusal to refund this year’s buyers.

For 2026, the organizers have promised reimbursement. I have not found a detailed Palenque-specific timetable explaining when or where buyers of physical and online tickets will be paid. QueShow has a general canceled-event refund process, but that is separate from the event-specific instructions the organizers say they will announce.

The cancellation fits one scenario in the October warning. It also follows direct threats against the artists. That gives IAG’s side a useful propaganda victory. It still does not establish where the ticket money went.

I’ll believe it when everyone has been refunded.