ProAudio del Norte, the company that staged the collapse of the stage at the Citizens Movement rally | Mexican elections 2024

In a matter of seconds, a gust of wind knocked down screens, metalwork and state-of-the-art sound equipment in San Pedro Garza García (Nuevo León). The stage erected on a baseball field to welcome Citizens Movement (MC) presidential candidate Jorge Álvarez Mánez and his party’s municipal contender Lorencia Canavati collapsed due to the storm, killing dozens of people. The tragedy has so far killed nine people and injured more than 120. Questions about an unusual accident that could have been prevented have already led to the launch of an investigation by the state prosecutor’s office, with authorities not revealing more details so far.

In the count of the damages, the name of ProAudio del Norte, the company in charge of setting up the stage on Wednesday afternoon, has come to the fore. According to local media News broadcastIn December last year, the Firma group suspended a concert because a screen on the stage was not installed correctly; the people in charge of the show that day were ProAudio del Norte. Through a statement, the organizers of the event explained the rescheduling of the northern band’s concert due to “technical issues”. True to the old saying of the show, the show continued 15 days later at the Monterrey Arena without any major surprises.

The company, founded in 2001 by businessman Victor Gutiérrez, displays on its social networks its extensive experience in the preparation of both political and musical events: Los Tigres del Norte, Christian Nodal, Reik, Los Ángeles Azules, are some of the concerts they promote on their networks. Bronco also appears in this gallery, the group that was the one to sign the closing of Canavati’s campaign this Wednesday and that sent a message of condolence and emotion from its networks. The group, which was the main attraction of the rally, reported that they were fine after the incident and only reported material damages. The company is silent, its website is offline, its telephone numbers are also offline. Only on its social networks, other companies in the sector have expressed their solidarity with staff members, sound engineers and lighting professionals for the tragedy that occurred on the baseball field.

ProAudio del Norte’s relationship with the Movimiento Ciudadano and specifically with its candidate for mayor, Lorencia Canavati, dates back to 2022, when the Orange Formation candidate served as director of the Santa Lucía Festival and requested ProAudio’s services for the large-scale event held in Monterrey, Nuevo León, in September of that same year. According to the contract reviewed by this newspaper through Transparency, the signed agreement was for 1.1 million pesos. In the public sector, the company has also provided computer equipment to the Electoral Institute of Nuevo León for 122,000 pesos and they were the organizers of the 2016 Young Urban Festival in Monterrey, an event for which they received approximately 98,000 pesos. Three years later, they were hired by the Port of Altamira Tamaulipas to carry out the Monterrey 2019 trade mission.

ProAudio’s charter includes as priority activities the leasing of audio equipment, the promotion of artistic activities, providing advice in artistic events of all kinds, projection and market research. The firm is originally from Tampico, Tamaulipas, and although it has other partners, the sole administrator is 56-year-old businessman Victor Gutiérrez.

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