Latin stars moved quickly to stage peace concert

By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) - The idea was born over lunch and drinks. It was early March, and Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador were on the brink of war after a Colombian anti-guerrilla raid into Ecuador.

For Colombian star Juanes, the notion was incomprehensible. "I'll go to the border with my guitar and sing to fix this," he said.

"No," his manager, Fernan Martinez, replied. "If we do this, we go all out."

Ten days later, on March 16, Juanes -- along with fellow Colombian Carlos Vives, Venezuelan Ricardo Montaner, Spaniards Miguel Bose and Alejandro Sanz, Dominican Juan Luis Guerra and Ecuadorean Juan Fernando Velasco -- hosted a massive concert for peace. Nearly 100,000 fans gathered around a makeshift stage built in the middle of the bridge that connects Colombia with Venezuela.

The free concert was funded entirely by donations and will not generate a penny in profit; all networks that aired it worldwide could do so only without commercials or sponsorships.

"The objective of this show was utterly noncommercial, and we didn't want anything to distract from that," Juanes says.

But how does one get seven Latin superstars to play gratis, in the middle of nowhere, and at a moment's notice?

The morning of Thursday, March 6, after Juanes' concert at Madison Square Garden, popular morning show "La W" on the station of the same name (heard in Spain and throughout Latin America) announced the Juanes-hosted Concert for Peace in Colombia.