Mouths of ash

Rafael Moreno

Listen Mister President
How are you going to govern
Because this way, the peasants, Oh man!
Are going to be wiped out

Listen Mister President . . . Caramba!
How are you going to govern
Because this way, the peasants, Oh man!
Are going to be wiped out

Listen Mister President . . . Caramba!
Don't you feel pain
With so many Refugees, Oh man!
That are heard across the region (repeat).

How the peasant runs . . . Caramba!
Looking for a way to escape
So that in the battles, Oh man!
They won't be killed (repeat).

And in this horrible storm, Oh man!
That happened down on the lower Atrato,
They were left without their parents, Oh man! Those poor children.

For more than five years now . . . Caramba!
Of this desperation
And all over the place, Oh man!
You hear suffering and pain (repeat).

And all over the place, Oh man!
You hear suffering and pain.

Luzmila Palacio

Oh Juradó, don't make me suffer anymore
Because I am dying of pain and I can't take it anymore (repeat)

In Juradó there wasn't time for sadness
Because it's people were happy and cumbianvera (repeat)

But war ended all the happiness
And the gas-can bombs closed the borders (repeat)

Oh Juradó, don't make me suffer anymore
Because I'm dying of pain and I can't take it anymore (repeat)

In Colombia, the exodus is massive
Children are not respected nor the elderly (repeat)

The old man is left forgotten
And we the poor are treated with horror (repeat)

Oh Juradó, don't make me suffer anymore
Because I'm dying of pain and I can't take it anymore (repeat)

You are rich because you have oxygen,
Your wood and also your folklore (repeat)

Biodiversity in all the species
Of fauna that were left to us by the Lord (repeat)

Oh Juradó, don't make me suffer anymore
Because I'm dying of pain and I can't take it anymore (repeat)

(Note: Juradó translates as “member of the jury.”

Domingo Mena

Listen Mister President
Ay, mister Andres Pastrana
Has come to visit
This beautiful land of El Chocó

Look at how my town is
All the houses closed
All the inhabitants of Bella Vista
Are refugees now

The FARC with the paramilitaries
And those two were fighting
The FARC launched a gas-can rocket
And it fell inside the church

What they did with my people
My God! It makes no sense
To kill so many innocent people
Without any reason

I beg you, Oh my Lord!
Why do you punish us this way?
My people don't deserve
To have so many elderly and children die

Also the Virgen del Carmen,
The patron of my town
Is totally destroyed
Look at what horrible things these are!

I remember May 2nd
A date I will never forget
Something happened in Bella Vista
That moved the entire world (repeat)

When I entered the church
And I saw the people destroyed
My heart lurched
While my eyes cried. (repeat)

Vicente Mosquera

It was approximately six o'clock in the morning
When shots were heard in town (repeat)

The people awoke startled
And they asked each other (repeat)
What was going on in town (repeat)

And they asked each other
If their lives would end there (repeat)

An old lady, neighbor to my house
Asked me, son, what is going on here (repeat)
Why is everyone running out of their houses (repeat)

An old lady, neighbor to my house
Asked me, son, what is going on here (repeat)
Why is everyone running out of their houses. (repeat)

Noel Gutiérrez

It was six o'clock in the morning, my friend,
When something very bad happened (repeat)

A rifle blast, an AK blast,
A machine gun blast, the paramilitaries responded
They came over to Bojayá and that's where things got serious
The bullets began to weave and the people were scared

They thought of an idea, to go to the church
Because they were sure nothing would happen to them there
Since it was a place of God, the Lord would protect them

My friend, but what a tragedy has taken place in Bojayá,
don't you think? Look at all the death!

They mistakenly launched a gas-can rocket
It fell right on top of the church
And ended many lives
It fell right on top of the church
And ended many lives

About three seconds
After it blew up
Many of our relatives had been destroyed (repeat)

The people ran, the children cried
As they saw how their town was destroyed (repeat)

I can't believe nor can I imagine
That that could have happened, there in Bojayá (repeat)

Many children without their parents
Many parents without their children
Due to the violence
That wipes out the peasant

I can't believe nor can I imagine
That that could have happened, there in Bojayá (repeat)

Two Brothers: Nacer Hernández

I am going to tell you a sad story
The one that happened to us
Where many people died
And that is what causes me pain

It was February 10th
When my brother and I
Were that day going on leave
But a son of the devil accused us there

Saying we were guerrillas
As if to gain honor
But since we are with God
And because we are with God we are here again

Oh life! You have to pay attention to life
Because life is full of mysteries
That night I had a dream
Where the Lord revealed to me
A ship covered in black
That maybe was my casket
But then I remembered
And prayed to the Lord for me and my family

You must distance yourself from Lucifer
Because those were things of envy

And since we have faith in the Lord
And since we have faith in the Lord
We ask him for a long life
Since we have faith in the Lord
Since we have faith in the Lord
We ask him for a long life

We ask him for a long life
Since we have faith in the Lord
Since we have faith in the Lord
We ask him to give us long life

Two Brothers: Dorismel Hernández

Lord, you saved my life
When I most needed you
And now once again I have to continue with it
And give, give you my soul

To give you all my caring
To give you all my love
And that you light my path
To follow, to follow you my Lord

Because to me you are the most beautiful thing
I want to enter into your heart
I also want to be one of your children
To distance, distance myself from pain

I want to live to sing to you Lord
I want to live to make you happy

When I was handcuffed, was tied up
I prayed to you for my brother and me
And at that moment you were listening to me
And that is what makes me so happy

Oh, when they were massacring, when they were killing
I felt, I felt like crying
I only prayed to you, my God up in heaven
That you would save us, and nothing would happen to us

But your weapon was more powerful
Than those that were sent by Satan

Because even with all the killing
My brother and I were saved

I want to live to sing to you, Jehovah
I want to live to make you happy, Lord
I want to live to make you happy, Lord
I want to live to make you happy