In the provocative new music video for his latest single, "Mojado" -- or "Wetback" -- popular Latin American singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona stands on a Tijuana beach at the dividing line between Mexico and the United States. Stretching behind him is the controversial new wall being built to separate the two countries. In front of him is the vast, unfenced sea.
The jarring juxtaposition underscores the pro-immigrant message of this Guatemalan-born artist: Man may make borders, but God created the Earth for everybody. In a Spanish-language verse that is bound to inflame the already superheated debate on the issue, Arjona cloaks illegal immigration in a mantle of morality:
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday March 18, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 1 inches; 57 words Type of Material: Correction
Border fence -- An article in Monday's Calendar about Ricardo Arjona's new music video, made on a Tijuana beach at the dividing line between Mexico and the United States, referred to "the controversial new wall being built to separate the two countries." The fence being built there is to replace one that has been up for years.
\o7Why do they chase you, Wetback / If the Consul in the heavens has already granted you a visa?
\f7Though the video was filmed on Mexico's northern border, Arjona says the lyric applies equally to its southern frontier with his native country where Guatemalans are allegedly mistreated trying to enter Mexico.
"Without a doubt, the solution lies less with the United States than with our own countries because they have been unable to sustain their own sons and daughters on their own land, forcing them to look elsewhere for what they can't find at home," Arjona said in a phone interview from his home in Miami. "Now that doesn't mean that people who cross the border without papers should be treated like animals. That's another story."
With "Mojado," the singer launches the latest salvo in one of the most divisive issues facing the U.S. today. He also echoes the views of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who recently championed the cause of the undocumented during a defiant Ash Wednesday sermon, urging priests to oppose a proposed law requiring churches to check immigration documents before offering assistance to the needy.
Arjona says the momentum of the debate so far has been unfairly tilted toward border-control advocates, prompting him to speak out on the other side.
"People get used to hearing the news every day on television or in the papers, but when you hear it in a song, the problem takes on a different shading," he said. "I felt bombarded by the constant assault of news ... people who die trying to cross, the speeches from politicians who came as immigrants to this country and now stand completely against other immigrants. It all hit me as an author and this song is the result."
