Just over 10 years ago, a flanky guy with dreadlocks started to compose music for a new band. A bit of the blues here, a bit of reggae there, all with a strong Andean sensibility, gave form to what is now Bolivia’s most popular rock band: Atajo. And Panchi Maldonado, whose lyrics have sunk into public’s consciousness, is today a personality with deep roots in local culture and an example of an artist with a strong commitment to the people of this country.

So we’d like to present you with an Atajo video, produced and directed by Panchi and Yvette Paz-Soldán, and released last October: “Ay Mamita”, a single from Atajo’s album “Nunca Mas.”

The song speaks of the deaths provoked by Bolivian ex-President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, who was forced to resign and leave the country in October 2003 because of a popular insurrection.

So what’s so special about the video? The people that appear on your screen lost a brother, or a son, or a wife or a mother or a leg during those days…they are all members of the Association of the Relatives of those who Died in Defense of the Gas (ASOFAC-DG in its Spanish initials), the El Alto-based social organization that is leading the fight for a trial against Sanchez de Lozada for his crimes.

Do not pity them, because that’s not what Atajo does. But don’t forget them… the video was made so that we all remember.