While Calle 13 was in the middle of the recording of their first album, Filiberto, who was the leader of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary group known as Los Macheteros was killed during a raid at his house led by the FBI, on September 23, 2005.
Ojeda Ríos was deemed a fugitive by the FBI (he had been hiding at various places in Puerto Rico over a period that lasted exactly 15 years) for refusing to submit himself to justice on charges issued in absentia after a bank robbery in Hartford, Connecticut for which he was labeled as a conspirator.
Angered by the FBI's action, Residente (singer of Calle 13) wrote a song about what happened and asked his record label, White Lion, to allow them to release the single about thirty hours after Ojeda's killing, to the public via the Internet through viral marketing through Indymedia Puerto Rico, an alternative news website.
Residente then describes his considerable anger against what had happened to Ojeda, and how that represents a humiliation to Puerto Ricans ("(A) nuestra bandera la han llena'o de mea'o", meaning "Our flag has been pissed upon") It also shows the political concerns of Calle 13, as evidenced by their allusions to 9/11, the U.S. government's involvement in the Ponce massacre.
In comparison, "Querido FBI" became the subject of debate at a forum hosted at University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras soon after its release, and had its lyrics posted in local newspapers such as Primera Hora and Claridad.