Colombian pop star Juanes accuses presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos of using one of the star’s songs in his campaign without permission, calling this “abuse.”
“They are using one of my songs in the campaign of Juan Manuel Santos without authorization… Abuse,” Juanes Tweeted via his Twitter account.
Juanes did not say which song is being used, but a version of his song “La Camisa Negra,” is circulating on YouTube with the lyrics altered to refer to Santos.
The altered song lyrics read: “I have my T-shirt on, because I support Santos, I want him to be president, and govern our country,” or in Spanish “Tengo la camisa puesta, porque yo apoyo a Santos, yo quiero que sea presidente y gobierne nuestra tierra.”
Santos’ campaign team released a statement denying Juanes’ allegations.
“Juan Manuel Santos’ campaign is NOT using Juanes’ song for publicity … We reiterate that the video circulating on YouTube is not an official campaign one … The images that appear in the said video are official campaign [images] and can be down loaded by anyone from Santos’ website,” the press release reads.
Santos, who had dropped back to second place in voter polls, regained his lead on Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus in a CM& poll released last week.
The Partido de la U candidate revamped his campaign strategy several weeks ago, and has been criticized for using a “voice-alike” of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in campaign advertisements.