We use music as a form of resistance because we say what people are afraid to say and only say in a whisper: that Uribe is calling himself Colombian and at the same time killing his own people.
We've been affected drastically by the civil war in Colombia. We’ve been displaced from Cali, where we were living, but repression is everywhere as is unemployment, prostitution and drugs.
The film that has influenced my view of the world is Maria Full of Grace. It’s a film about Narco-trafficking that reveals an experience very similar to my own. It reminded me of my previous life but also of my new life as part of the band, the film was like my own cycle.
The artist who has most inspired me is Dead Pres, the political message that he gives is really what the world needs at this moment. The person who has most influenced me is myself. My mum died when I was young, I left home at 13, since then I have created my own world.
The event that's had the most impact on my outlook are the concerts we've given under paramilitary occupation. In these concerts it is a case of arriving, singing and leaving immediately, as it is too dangerous to stay. Our fans would want to speak to us after but we could loose our lives for saying in words what we say in our music.
I feel most strongly about stopping the re-election of President Uribe at the upcoming general election. In the last four years he has been killing his people.
My favourite question is Do you want to eat?
The question that I most dislike is whether I am a terrorist (that is what they call you if you are left-wing here). I hate this question and I always get asked it. In Germany there was a journalist who kept insisting that we were part of the terrorists.
I believe in a God and humanity, without God there is no humanity, and without humanity there is no God, one has to be accompanied by the other. I also believe in the energy that has been left over from our ancestors; their histories and their experiences and the energy that this has created.
I am afraid of the police. They work to create terror in us; they are the real terrorists of the state. In 1997 the police killed three innocent people in the city where I was living. I happened to be in the area at the time and they accused me of the killings to exempt themselves from guilt, which lead to my imprisonment. For that reason I hate them.
I no longer cry... we are so accustomed to terrible things happening all the time here in Colombia, so much violence and hunger that we get accustomed to dealing with it.
The person who most makes me feel optimistic about the world at the moment is my wife. She always lifts me off the ground when I am down, or when I want to leave the band or stop singing, she always encourages me and gives me hope.
