Gael García Bernal has never been one to stay silent when it comes to political matters. From calling out President Donald Trump’s xenophobia to keeping Mexico’s president accountable, the 40-year-old actor no tiene ninguna pepita en la lengua. On Tuesday, he expressed his outrage with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Twitter after news of a massacre in Northern Mexico – now known as the LeBaron murders – spread.
“If the government and [President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador] don’t change the narrative to assume their responsibilities, why the hell did we vote for you guys,” the Coco actor wrote in a tweet that has 8,600 retweets. “You better fully assume responsibility and do the impossible so that this doesn’t happen again.”
On November 4, nine people from the U.S. – three women and six children – were brutally murdered while driving between Sonora and Chihuahua. The youngest victims on the list of fatalities are a set of 7-month-old twins. There were a total of 17 people from the LeBaron family in the three vehicles that were mercilessly shot up. The gunmen are suspected as belonging to a cartel, and the motive – while believed to be intentional rather than accidental casualties resulting from strife between gangs – is unclear. A heavily armed suspect was arrested, according to CBS News.
Trump weighed in after news of the incident as well.
“This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage war on the drug cartels,“ he tweeted on Tuesday.
President Manuel has been in power since 2018, and the pressure to enact serious change and put an end to daily violence of this nature rests heavily on his shoulders. Voices such as García Bernal, who actively campaigned and voted for the president, seem eager to ensure that’s the case.
“You can’t separate art from politics,” the actor said while presenting an Oscar in 2017. “Art takes a political stance – and when it doesn’t take a political stance … that’s a political stance, too.”
Editor’s Note, November 6 at 5:30 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to clarify Gael García Bernal’s speech at the 2017 Oscars.