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Paz sin Fronteras (Peace without Borders) refers to a series of free outdoor concerts lead by the Colombian singer Juanes along with other internationally recognized artists. The first string of concerts took place in 2008 along the Colombia-Venezuela border on the Simón Bolivar International Bridge. The second took place in 2009 in Cuba’s Plaza de la Revolución (Revolution Square) and a third was planned for Caracas, Venezuela in 2013.

The purpose of the first concert was to reaffirm the nonviolence message that Colombians, Venezuelans, and Ecuadorians are South American brothers, independent of the relation between the political orientation of shifting governments. It was organized by Juanes, who in turn was the show’s host. It took place March 16, 2008 between 1:35 pm and 5:40 pm (GMT) on the Simón Bolivar International Bridge, on the Colombia-Venezuela border located between the city of Cúcuta (specifically the Metropolitan Municipality of Villa de Rosario) and the town of San Antonio del Táchira (capital of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).

Paz sin Fronteras began as an initiative against the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis that held Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, since Colombian forces invaded Ecuadorian territory in the Santa Rosa Bombardment of 2008. This bombardment took place as a result of the failure of Raul Reyes, second in command of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). These border violations of the neighboring country generated a crisis that included the movement of Venezuelan and Ecuadorian troops to the borders. This crisis ended with the Rio Group meeting on Friday, March 7, 2008 in the Dominican Republic.

The artists that participated in the first concert were Alejandro Sanz, Juan Fernando Velasco, Carlos Vives, Juan Luis Guerra, Miguel Bosé, and Ricardo Montaner, in addition to Juanes. None of the artists or the individuals in charge of the concert received any payment for their services, as the event was a free outdoor concert with the purpose of serving as a symbol of peace in the region. According to the calculations, more than 300,000 people attended Paz sin Fronteras.

The second concert took place in the Havana on the stage of La Plaza de la Revolución in front of more than 1,150,000 people. The audience was made up of mostly Cubans, with foreigners including tourists and students. In an unprecedented figure for this kind of show, Juanes and his guests closed the historic concert of Paz Sin Fronteras Project in the Havana.

The artists who attended: Juanes, Olga Tañón, Danny Rivera, Miguel Bose, Victor Manuelle, Luis Eduardo Aute, Juan Fernando Velasco, Jovanotti, Amaury Pérez, Silvio Rodríguez, Orishas, Carlos Varela, X-Alfonso, Cucu Diamantes, Yerba Buena and Los Van Van ended with excitement, singing in a grand chorus for peace, in the second concert of Paz sin Fronteras.

The artistic performance, which exceeded five hours has become since then an unprecedented historic success, both for the number of people who attended and for the international repercussion.

In the words of Olga Tañón, this day surpassed “all the expectations of my life. Thank the people of Cuba for it” Her fellow Puerto Rican, Danny Rivera, was inspired and his declarations made up these verses: “This concert is the seed that grows in the ground, the marvel of the human being transforms into rain, into water, into wind so that the new dream of the human being germinates.”