Activism
Juanes has said that: "these are your people, young people, people with families, and four or five of them are dying every day." Juanes established the Mi Sangre Foundation to help victims of anti-personnel mines In 2005, he was named by Time as one of the world's 100 most influential people. Juanes has supported former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, stating that "with this new government of Álvaro Uribe my country seems in better shape." On November 15, 2005, he was honored at the annual benefit gala for Sir Paul McCartney's Adopt-A-Minefield for his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for United for Colombia, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about the impact of land mines within Colombia.
On April 19, 2006, Juanes performed before the European Parliament, as part of a campaign to increase awareness against the use of land mines around the world, including in his native Colombia. He was first singer to perform in the hemicycle where the European Parliament holds its plenary sessions. The Parliament gave a symbolic gift of €2.5 million to demine Colombia and to rehabilitate victims of the landmines. In honor of his work and his music, he was given an escopetarra (a decommissioned AK-47 converted into a guitar) by peace activist César López; he later sold it at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills for US$17,000. Juanes held a benefit concert on May 24, 2006 in conjunction with KLVE and Univision which raised roughly US$350,000 to care for injured children and provide prosthetics, wheelchairs, and land rehabilitation.
On July 19, 2006, French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres awarded Juanes with the highest cultural honor given by France, L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, declaring him "Knight in the order of Arts and Letters" for his work in social activism. In December 2006, work began on a recreational park for the rehabilitation of the handicapped named "Parque Juanes de la Paz" in Medellín. The 68,000-square-meter facility will cost COL$10.6 billion, financed in part by the government of Medellín, and is to be completed by May 2007.
Juanes is also an activist for his native Spanish language; he has stated many times that while he respects native Spanish-speaking artists who choose to sing in English (such as fellow Colombian singer Shakira), he himself will not sing in English in order to best express himself (since he thinks and feels in Spanish) and to promote the Spanish language. One exception was his duet with Tony Bennett for the song "The Shadow of your Smile." Also recently his new song "Odio por amor" includes one line in English: "It's Time To Change". He also sang a few lines of English during a duet performance with John Legend during the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.
On March 16, 2008, Juanes organized a free concert as a response to the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis. This concert took place on the Colombia-Venezuela border. This was a free event and gathered an audience of 300,000 people. It was broadcast by Colombian and Venezuelan television stations. A Yahoo–Telemundo partnership webcast the event. The concert featured the well-known artists: Miguel Bosé, Alejandro Sanz from Spain. Juan Luís Guerra from the Dominican Republic, Ricardo Montaner from Venezuela, Juan Fernando Velasco from Ecuador and Juanes and Carlos Vives from Colombia. The concert became a reality with the help of many private companies from Colombia and Venezuela. As an important remark concerning this event, Colombian president Álvaro Uribe had expressed days before the concert that he would attend the event. Juanes' manager replied that since it was an artistic event with no political affiliations they preferred the president not to be present. President Uribe replied in an official letter that he accepted Juanes' manager's suggestion.
In 2011, Juanes showed support to indigenous rights organization Survival International. He modeled a t-shirt designed by the British artist Richard Long in support of indigenous peoples. Juanes has said, "By protecting tribal peoples, we are respecting our past, present and future".
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