Joe Ely himself later explained that he sings all the Spanish parts and also helped translate them. He said that he translated the words into a Tex Mex style, while Strummer knew more Castilian Spanish because he had lived in Spain during the early years of his life. At the same time, a Puerto Rican sound engineer, Eddie Garcia, added his own flavor. So what is heard in the song is essentially the English couplet repeated in Spanish through a mixture of Tex Mex, Castilian, and Latin American usage.