no hay nadie como calle 13

at the mtv latin america awards last month calle 13 cleaned up! and not just music awards. residente (vocalist rené pérez) hosted the televised show and threw insults left and right, wiping the floor with various traitorous vendido latin american politicians: uribe (colombia), calderón (méxico), micheletti (honduras) & fortuño (pr) among others. he has a sharp tongue, that residente, and he uses it well! really, i can't think of another pop culture icon who has put such immense popularity to such good use. in addition to insulting the reactionary heads of state he also used the stage to advertise the massive general strike against unemployment happening that same day in puerto rico, and to honor the dead from the '68 massacre of students in mexico city and the south american disappeared.



the new york daily news has a good summary of some of the highlights:

Mixing foul language and stinging political commentary, Pérez said, “Latin America is incomplete without a free Puerto Rico” and called the governor of the island a “son of a b” for the controversial layoff of 25,000 public employees.

“I made him famous,” Pérez, 31, said of Luis Fortuño, the embattled governor whose belt-tightening measures have led to large protests, the likes of which have not been seen on the island in decades.

The five-time Latin Grammy winner also said the president of Argentina should “stop using Botox” and wore a series of T-shirts emblazoned with a variety of messages.

Among the highlights: President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia belongs to illegal paramilitary groups, Honduras’ interim President Roberto Micheletti “rhymes with Pinochetti,” as in the former Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and one shirt saying Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez has been “nominated for Best Pop Artist.”

The reaction was swift. In Colombia, Calle 13 was disinvited to a January festival in the pro-Uribe city of Manizales, and in Puerto Rico, the governor charged that Pérez’s words had “disrespected all Puerto Rican women and mothers.”

The mayor of San Juan, Jorge Santini, labeled Pérez a “tecato,” a drug user, and pulled the plug on a show Calle 13 was supposed to have in Puerto Rico last Saturday. In response, Pérez, who says he’s never used drugs, challenged the mayor to a drug test.

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for tomorrow's latin grammy awards ceremony, calle 13 has received the most nominations and are likely to win at least a couple of them. they're also scheduled to perform la perla with rubén blades. that's potentially a lot of stage time! pérez said he'll be more tranquilo this time around. i hope not. you can see the awards, and any potential antics, on univisión. other performers include alicia keyes and the illustrious omara portuondo.

but hey ¡¡residente!! come on! some more left-wing travesuras tomorrow night? por favorciiiito?! atreve-te-te-te-te ;)

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this song is from calle 13's first album. it was written and posted to the internet the day following the fbi's assassination of puerto rican independentista filiberto ojeda ríos in 2005.

here's the original version...

querido fbi : calle 13



and here is the tribute to the mothers of the plaza de mayo version. residente + visitante (brother) + pg-13 (sister) ...

querido fbi : calle 13