“Basta ya” — “that’s enough” — has long been used as a cry of resistance in Spanish-speaking countries.
Argentine songwriter Atahualpa Yupanqui’s 1951 anti-imperialist track, “Basta Ya,” called for the end of social inequalities in his homeland — and for improved conditions of the country’s working class.
In the ‘90s, the cry was used by the Mexican Zapatista Army of National Liberation during its armed struggle against the Mexican government. The motto was also employed by Spanish citizens in the ‘90s and early 2000s to call for nonviolence from the Basque separatist group ETA.
In November 2025, artists Cain Culto and Xiuhtezcatl evoked the phrase to call for resistance against imperialistic powers in the U.S. and abroad in their single “¡Basta Ya!”
The track has gained traction as an anti-ICE anthem after Renee Nicole Good was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during an operation Wednesday in Minneapolis.
Culto, a queer Latinx artist with Colombian and Nicaraguan roots based in Santa Ana, posted an Instagram video following Good’s killing, which showed him burning three piñatas that spelled out “ICE” as “¡Basta Ya!” played in the background.
“Justice for Renee Nicole Good,” the post’s caption read. “ICE out of LA. ICE out of OC.”
The song, however, was originally conceived of as a cry for a different cause.
“The original concept of the song came to me about two years ago,” Culto said. “I wrote that hook and started producing it towards the beginning of Israel’s genocide of Gaza. The hook came to me out of frustration, but then I showed the beat to a couple people and kind of forgot about the song.”
As the Trump administration continued its crackdown on undocumented immigrants and their communities in L.A. last year, Culto came back to the song from a different angle.
“I remembered the song, the anger and the need and want to create something, to encourage people to protest and channel that into something productive,” he said.
“Imperialism oppresses overseas and when you’re at home. The song’s message will last hopefully for any resistance. It feels great to see that people are relating to it and feeling encouraged in this frustrating time just seeing the violent imagery, seeing the footage. It can feel heavy on people’s hearts, so I felt like this song hopefully channels all that frustration into something that can lead to resistance.”
Part of the resistance for Culto was making sure that the track made use of several musical genres to reflect its message.
“It’s merengue and hyper pop, but it has distortion, which adds this punk element,” Culto said. “I knew that the message had to carry, not only cultural pride, but also this essence of calling out the system and just demanding ceasefire, demanding just an end to oppression.”
The 28-year-old singer called on the activist/hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl to further help carry out the single’s message.
Xiuhtezcatl has been advocating for environmental justice and human rights causes at a local and international level since he was 9 years old. At 13, he gave a TED Talk about how communities can embrace environmental activism and the importance of Indigenous voices in that process. At 15, he spoke in front of the UN General Assembly about climate change in 2015.
“Cain and I just found each other online, we started messaging back and forth, and he sent me a version of the song to show me what he was working on doing and I said, ‘This is amazing,’” Xiuhtezcatl said. “It just really speaks to how intersectional so many of these struggles for liberation are from Palestine to Sudan to Mexico and to migrant communities across North America that have such a shared struggle.”
The constant stream of videos showing ICE agents taking people from their homes and places of work left the 25-year-old activist in a perpetual state of rage, anger and grief.
“This song was like a catharsis for being able to express some of that angst in a generative way,” he said.
Following the killing of Good last week, he posted a clip of the track’s music video on Instagram.
“ICE out of our communities,” he wrote. “We must resist the politics of death this administration and its henchmen embody. Another world is possible. Power to the communities who are resisting and to those that are still standing.”
Speaking on the song’s renewed thematic relevance and usage, Xiuhtezcatl noted that there will likely be a number of occasions in the near future where the single will feel especially pertinent.
“It’s beautiful to have the affirmation that we’re creating art that is valuable outside of just entertainment,” he said. “I think the greatest artists have always had a foot in that world of being able to speak and be a reflection of the political realities of our communities, of our countries and of the people who we make our art for.”
As someone with Latinx and Indigenous roots, Xiuhtezcatl has also been disturbed at how his communities have been targeted by ICE, as several Indigenous people were detained by agents last week in a Minneapolis raid.
“We’re seeing Native American tribal citizens being abducted by ICE, it’s just crazy how connected the struggle is,” he said. “I think this moment speaks to how our political awareness is growing to be more international, as well how we understand these violence that we’re seeing at home. It’s what the U.S. has been exporting internationally for generations. Those lines of solidarity and connectivity are really valuable.”
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