Cain Culto and Xiuhtezcatl's 'Basta Ya!' proves a potent anti-ICE anthem

"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."

"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 phrase "Basta ya" has served as a transnational cry of resistance, used historically by Argentine songwriter Atahualpa Yupanqui in 1951, by the Zapatista movement in the 1990s, and by Spanish citizens calling for nonviolence from ETA. In November 2025 artists Cain Culto and Xiuhtezcatl released a single titled "¡Basta Ya!" invoking the phrase against imperialistic powers. The track gained traction as an anti-ICE anthem after Renee Nicole Good was killed during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, prompting Culto to post a video burning piñatas spelling "ICE." Culto said the song's hook originated amid the early stages of Israel's genocide of Gaza and was later repurposed amid intensified immigration enforcement in Los Angeles.

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