La Mano Fria is a graphic artist, record selector, a label owner, a visual soldier against the global and false democratic system which engulfs the world today and most important a simple worker. Son of Colombian and Costa Rican immigrants that fled their country to settle in the urban jungles of NYC in the late 60’s, he was born in 1973 in a mainly South American community of Queens, NYC. Later moving to Miami and South Florida, before the record label his involvement in the Miami scene ranged from organizing events to involvement with pirate radio stations.
As a visual artist, La Mano Fria influences are traced to all types of sounds (latin, hip hop, electronic, techno, roots reggae, etc.), old punk rock record covers, Cuban OSPAAAL posters, and NYC graffiti movement as well as his own experiences of being a immigrants struggling and being on the go in the US. Founder of the Beta Bodega Coalition (Beta Bodega, Rice and Beans and Botanica del Jibaro and Arepaz record labels), La Mano Fria has always fused his ideas and work with those of artists to form a creative relationship and record label which is unique. Through his travels, he now is expanding into the realm of books, video, a clothing line and art exhibitions. The point is to use multi media as a tool which can give and voice and shine light on issues and voices that are commonly ignored.