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OPINION | “Patria y vida”, a song that speaks clearly and calls for changes in Cuba | CNN

2021-02-27T01:22:30.746Z


Jorge Dávila Miguel: It bothers them. And because it bothers so much, they have given it a lot of publicity, denouncing it as an annexationist, as a musical pamphlet and as "a strategy." The government response adds to public curiosity to know what the song says. Result: free publicity and relevance. | Opinion | CNN


Editor's Note:

Jorge Dávila Miguel has a degree in Journalism since 1973 and has maintained a continuous career in his profession to date.

He has postgraduate degrees in Social Information Sciences and Social Media, as well as post-university higher studies in International Relations, Political Economy and Latin American History.

Currently, Dávila Miguel is a columnist for El Nuevo Herald, on the McClatchy network, and a political analyst and columnist for CNN en Español.

The comments expressed in this column belong exclusively to the author.

See more at cnne.com/opinion

(CNN Spanish) -

The government of Cuba is in a very special situation.

On the one hand, the pandemic, which reduced its already meager Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 11% in 2020.

On the other, the expected change in Washington's policy, for which the president of the United States Joe Biden does not have much hurry or defined horizons and, in the middle, a stubborn internal discontent, represented lately by a protest song belonging to the rare subgenre musical cubatón (Cuban variant of reggaeton, in turn derived from reggae and American hip hop).

"Patria y vida" perfectly qualifies as a Cuban protest song.

It will not be the first, but it does deserve to be the first in relevance, because two of its interpreters - who are six - Maykel Osorbo (Castillo) and Eliécer "El Funky" Márquez Duany reside in Cuba, and because of the wide diffusion achieved.

In addition, the combative response of the Cuban government guarantees that place.

It bothers them.

And because it bothers so much, they have given it a lot of publicity, denouncing it as an annexationist, as a musical pamphlet and as "a strategy."

The government response adds to public curiosity to know what the song says.

Result: free publicity and relevance.

But why don't they arrest and condemn them?

Is it because its own Constitution, approved just two years ago, guarantees freedom of expression in Article 54?

So technically, a government should not imprison any of its citizens.

They threaten them, scare them, beat them, arrest them and release them, but all are, so far, free.

This is how it has been since the police raid of the San Isidro Movement on November 26, 2020, the demonstrations before the Ministry of Culture of Cuba - whose great mistake was not to enter the meeting agreed on January 27, 2021, to which the vice minister of Culture Fernando Rojas repeatedly invited them before the cameras - and, now, with the creators of the rabidly anti-communist song “Patria y vida”.

All have clearly challenged the Cuban government.

But Washington is going to proceed with great caution in reopening relations with Cuba, and imprisoning young people for the mere crime of speaking against the government is a very bad example of civility.

We must be patient and calculating in the face of the expected benevolence of Biden, which seems to be the only option Cuba has.

Because there is no longer Russia or Venezuela to help, and the hopeful friendship of the "evil empire" is needed.

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It must be recognized that the Cuban government is an expert in special situations, because it has almost always been in one, as well as in difficult situations, like now.

And getting out of this situation would be very simple: achieve financial success.

That the reforms that they implement were effective.

Not only calculated to maintain the power of a bureaucracy that weighs down the nation.

Let the economy be as truly sovereign as it can be.

Without depending on the benevolence of anyone.

Will it be possible?

This would require the political courage of the Cuban government, to undertake the really necessary economic changes.

In just two months the VIII Congress of the Cuban Party will take place.

Ten years after the need to reform the economy was raised, and fourteen since Raúl Castro expressed his total conviction that it was vital "to introduce the structural changes and concepts that are necessary (...) with a critical and creative sense without stagnation."

Fidel Castro said something similar with that of "changing what should be changed ...".

However, it does not happen, everything is uncertainty.

Great acts with elegant words that do not materialize, only postponed in a new hope and another and another.

That is why “Patria y vida” arises, with its catchy rhythm and clear lyrics.

Will it have any effect on the destinations of Cuba?

The Cuban government, accustomed to the great, says that all these demonstrations by young rebels are nothing more than part of a "soft coup" organized from the United States.

It is the latest and fragile version of events.

Will they use that argument to imprison them?

And will they accept negotiation with a government that wants to remove them from power?

They are the sometimes silly and always bitter contradictions in which the sociopolitical reality of sweet Cuba often finds itself.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-02-27

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