[News] Actor Juan Pablo Raba, an invisible criminal on the border of "Coyote"

[EvKirito]

A fearsome but discreet villain; ruthless but refined. This is how Juan Pablo Raba describes his sinister character from "Coyote", a series on the border between the United States and Mexico that, according to the Colombian actor told Efe, exemplifies that "the most dangerous criminals" are those who are not seen.

Raba is an expert in revealing the dark side of the world thanks to roles like Gustavo Gaviria's in "Narcos" (2015-2017).

Now you see faces with Michael Chiklis ("The Shield", 2002-2008) in "Coyote", a series that landed last week on the CBS All Access platform with Michelle MacLaren, who was the producer of "Breaking Bad" (2008- 2013), in the engine room.

"Coyote" centers on Ben (Chiklis), a veteran US Border Patrol agent who becomes embroiled in a deadly plot to help a woman in distress in Mexico.

 

 

Raba plays a criminal named Juan Diego who will be Ben's great enemy despite the fact that, according to the Latino, they soon discover that "they are not so different from each other."

Q: Juan Diego is a bloodthirsty criminal, but also sophisticated, intelligent, and methodical.

A: I am attracted to the idea that we really depart from a stereotype: that villain who is such in front of everyone and for everyone, that villain who behaves as such throughout his life with his wife, with his children, towards the enemies of him ...

My perception of Juan Diego is that he is more of a businessman. His business is not necessarily legal, certainly. But he's not the person who's going to directly go and shoot you.

He has organized his life very well so that it does not show. It strikes me that the most dangerous criminals in this world are like this. And we see them on television, at rallies, splendid with their families ...

Later, if you find out a little bit, or when there is a scandal (...), what lies below is rotten. That catches the attention of Juan Diego: how do you do a guy who really knows that he is dangerous but does not act like one.

Q: Latinos in the US criticize that they are often given the roles of drug traffickers, prostitutes, etc. Are you worried about being pigeonholed into those types of criminal characters?

A: I reject many (smiles). I reject those that are misspelled.

I have no problem playing villains because there are villains in the world. It is not that it is a fantasy that we are making up. In the world there are drug cartels, there are people who traffic in human beings ...

My job as an artist is not to judge my character. That does not mean that I agree with him, of course not.

But in order to tell a story it is important that we can also tell these characters, that we can show them in all their facets (...). To the extent that we all put our grain of sand and make real characters, ultimately what we end up favoring is the story.

 

A NON-POLITICAL WESTERN

 

Q: What was it like to measure yourself in an almost western duel against an actor like Michael Chiklis?

A: Chiklis is a force of nature. Besides the fact that he put his body, his soul and two or three years of his life into this project, he is everything one hopes or wants a star to be.

He is a dedicated, serious, talented, hardworking, kind, caring guy. And he's also a tough guy when he has to be.

What I like most about him is that at no time does he take this figure as the colonizer: "I'm the Hollywood gringo who comes here to teach you how to do this."

Quite the opposite. He comes open-minded and hands-on to learn. He wants to learn Spanish, he wants to eat what is eaten in Mexico, he wants to spend time with them. He is truly an artist and he is willing to soak up everything that he sees permanently.

Q: The border is another character in "Coyote" and has also been a central point of American politics in recent years. How does this series avoid the border clichés launched by President Donald Trump and the Republicans?

A: First of all, at no point is "Coyote" intended to be a political series. We are telling a story that of course there are people who are going to take it to the political level, especially in the moment we are living.

Why is it important to me? I feel that sometimes television, movies, and books have a magnifying glass effect: they achieve that great themes, great paradigms of society, great dogmas, can be told through a single person.

When we concentrate something as big and as complex as the problem of immigration, the border, the cages, in one or two characters it is a little easier to understand. Because it's easier to put yourself in those shoes. That is why I think it is so important to tell it, even if there is 'backlash' (rejection), people who do not agree, who criticize it ...

It is a problem that has been going on for a long time and is clearly not going to end with this new Administration. This is an ongoing problem, something that is really going to take a long time, a lot of understanding and agreements for it to come to a human place.