I feel equal to Mexicans, Asians, everyone. That's the kind of positive message I want to get out.

I used to work in the cotton fields a lot when I was young. There were a lot of African Americans working out there. A lot of Mexicans - the blacks and the whites and the Mexicans, all out there singing, and it was like an opera in the cotton fields, and I can still hear it in the music that I write and play today.

We will pursue a relationship of friendship and co-operation with the United States, always rooted in mutual respect and in the defence of our fellow Mexicans who live and work honourably in that country.

I'd rather be fried alive and eaten by Mexicans.