Monterrey, Mexico ? The latest accordion-driven hit by Los Tigres del Norte pounds from cantina jukeboxes and is belted out by street musicians, but you won’t hear it on the radio.

The group which drew fire in the past for songs about drug traffickers is now mocking President Vicente Fox.

The band Los Tigres del Norte, which drew fire in the past for songs about drug traffickers, is now mocking Mexican President Vicente Fox. Many radio stations in Mexico refuse to play the song, despite its popularity on jukeboxes and with street musicians.

“Oh, now that change has come, we can all toast it with a glass of Coca-Cola,” their new song says, referring to Fox’s former job at the soft drink giant.

Some in the music industry accuse radio stations of steering clear of “Chronicle of a Change” because they fear losing government advertising, a mainstay for most Mexican media.

Servando Cano, spokesman for Los Tigres del Norte, was reluctant to talk about the song’s lyrics or the chilly reception it received from radio stations. “All I know is that it’s not being played on the radio,” he said. “I don’t know what the motives of the radio stations are. I just tell people that if they want to hear it, they have to buy the compact disc.”

There is no evidence Fox has used his power to retaliate against unfavorable media depictions even though, two years after he was elected, his inability to produce concrete results has bred hundreds of unflattering cartoons, editorials and television satires. His office did not immediately return calls for comment on “Chronicle of Change.”

But some people say the fear of retaliation is enough to keep the song off the air especially in conservative northern Mexico, where support for Fox’s National Action Party is strong.

“Other stations don’t want problems with the current government, so we’re the only ones locally who play it,” said Ricardo Escobedo, programmer for La Regiomontana, an AM station in this northern Mexican city of nearly 4 million people.

Playing on the campaign slogan, “For a Change,” which Fox used to unseat the longtime ruling party, the song asks “Now, my Zorro (Fox, in Spanish), when are we going to really get this change?”

The Tigres, masters of the “corrido” style of storytelling song, go on to depict hungry farmers face-down in the dust while executives of the state-run oil company vacation in Las Vegas.

The group has waded into politics before in a 30-year career known for colorful, Western-style costumes, four-hour-plus performances and songs chronicling everything from love affairs to the travails of immigrants in the United States.

In 1995, they scored a hit with “The Circus,” which criticized former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and his brother Raul, who is now in prison for masterminding a political murder. But that song was released after Salinas left office.

The Tigres also are credited with popularizing “narcocorridos” ballads that tell bloody stories of real-life drug traffickers. Some say the songs glamorize violence, and those tunes also are often scratched from radio playlists.