Bogotá busker César López transforms guns into guitars. The instrument is called an escopetarra because in Spanish "escopeta" means "rifle" and "guitarra" is a guitar. For López, the escopetarra is a statement against the war that's been raging in Colombia for two decades. From the Miami Herald (where you can also hear a recording of López playing):
"We're not trying to sell them or get someone to pay for them. We're just trying to get the word out," López told The Miami Herald.The strategy seems to be working. In January, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos promised López 12 AK-47 assault rifles, the first three from a 2-year-old peace process between the government and right-wing paramilitaries — known by their acronym AUC — that has led to the demobilization of about 24,000 fighters and the surrender of thousands of weapons…
When the car bomb exploded in 2003 in front of Bogotá's most famous country club, El Nogal, killing more than 30 people, López and his mates got government permission to stand side by side with the soldiers.
"We found the worst human invention, which is the gun, and the most beautiful, which could be a guitar," López said. "And in the end . . . the gun dies and the guitar is born."
