Juanes's Concert for Peace a Success

      Sunday’s concert organized by Juanes and other artists on the Venezuela-Colombia border was an achievement of peace in the region where political tensions have been running high. Juan Luis Guerra, Miguel Bosé, Alejandro Sanz, Calos Vives and Juan Fernando Velasco joined the Colombian singer, and all of the musicians wore white in a statement of unity for the region.

      Over 300,000 people attended the Concert for Peace, held at the Simón Bolívar Bridge linking Cucuta, Colombia and San Antonio, Venezuela. “It is a pleasure to be here for Colombia, for Venezuela, for Ecuador, for peace. This day will go down in history. You’re all making history. The message is clear: we don’t want wars amongst our people,” Alejandro Sanz, who wore a shirt with a peace sign on it, said at the close of his performance. Carlos Vives expressed his hope that the love shared that day would be felt by “our Ecuadorian brothers.”

      One of the most exciting moments of the night happened when Juanes got onstage to sing “Yo nací en este país” (“I Was Born in This Country”) with Juan Fernando Velasco. Later, Juanes, Miguel Bosé, Vives, Juan Luis Guerra and Velasco joined Sanz onstage to perform “Corazón partío” with the Spanish singer.

      Juanes came up with the idea for the concert in the hopes of promoting peace in the region following the death of Raúl Reyes, a prominent figure of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), who was killed by Colombian soldiers on Ecuadorian soil.