In July 1985, I watched the Live Aid concerts and told a friend that I would love to do something for children with my songs. Four months later, I was at the Canadian Embassy in Lima, Peru, where I met the owner of Radio Miraflores, an excellent radio station that played pop music and news, including blurbs from the Radio Canada International Spanish network. Jokingly, I told him I was a songwriter as well as a diplomat, and he invited me to visit his studio and record some of my songs.

The next day I went, and he and his producer liked them very much. I asked him why Peruvian artists had not done a “We Are The World” type song for the children who slept on Lima’s streets, and he replied that their egos got in the way and they couldn’t come up with anything. He went on to say that if I wrote a song, he would produce it. I told my Ambassador, Keith Bezanson, the next day about this interesting offer. The Ambassador said that if Radio Miraflores produced the song, the Embassy would cover the cost of pressing 3000 records as part of its public diplomacy program.

Off I went to my favourite café and came across a young girl asking for money. I gave her 200 soles (the price of a piece of bread), and the thought occurred to me “ se vende en las calles por un trozo de pan” (she sells herself for the price of a piece of bread). That night, I wrote the song around that thought,  and this was the result.

Ambassador Bezanson agreed with me that we should donate the rights to the children’s charity run by the First Lady. This we did. A few days later a friend called to inform that the head of presidential intelligence had told her that the First Lady, of the communist persuasion, was going to bury the song since I was not Cuban! We immediately withdrew our offer, and I decided to give the rights to the Hospital San Juan de Dios. I was invited to perform the song on the national telethon. What a thrill!

Enjoy!