Cuba’s song of change caused a huge response

Reporter : Gao Shan / Editor : Hua Ziming / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/2/21/n12764937.htm / Direct translation

Image : On November 27, 2020, Havana, about 200 young intellectuals and artists demonstrated in front of the cultural department. The Cuban police broke up a 10-day protest of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), claiming that the protest was at risk of spreading. (Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)

The Cuban regime arrested musician Denis Solís González on November 9, 2020. He has repeatedly condemned the authorities for violating human rights and freedom of speech. The Cuban authorities sentenced González to 8 months in prison for the vague "crime of contempt" after three days in solitary confinement.

The move triggered protests in Havana. The Cuban authorities arrested dozens of journalists and human rights defenders seeking to understand Gonzalez’s case or demanding his release. Many protesters are members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI).

The San Isidro Movement is a loose group of writers, artists, musicians, and other people who express anger at the continued suppression by the authorities.

According to the Havana Times, on Tuesday (February 16) night, a video of a song with the theme of paying tribute to the San Isidro movement and protesters was released on social networks. Just 12 hours later, it has already exceeded 200,000 views on YouTube.

According to the report, several singers and musicians collaborated to turn the iconic revolutionary song into a rebellious song: "Patria y Vida-Homeland and Life".

Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara), the leader of the San Isidro movement, appeared in the video with Osobo, hugging a Cuban flag.

He told the 14ymedio news network: "The most important thing for this action is to attract the attention of society, to the black people in the San Isidro community, the black people in the Cerro community, and those at the bottom of the line." In his view, This video "helps create a project, a country that makes these people feel identified, and makes these people feel identified and included."

A lyric in the song sang: "They destroyed our gates and violated our temples. The world knows that the San Isidro movement is still going on." This refers to the members of the San Isidro movement. He was expelled on November 26 last year.

Prior to this, the San Ysidro Movement had carried out a hunger strike for more than a week for the authorities to imprison the rapper Dennis Solis Gonzalez. This was also the fuse for more than 200 artists to protest peacefully in front of the cultural department on November 27 last year.

This video, directed by Cuban director Asiel Babastro, contains clips of repressions suffered by Cuban artists in recent months, including denial of recognition and arbitrary arrests.

For example, the video also includes a segment of a protest by Luis Robles in Calle San Rafael. Robles is currently serving a sentence in prison for "behaviour endangering national security."

In addition, the subject condemned the country's precarious economic situation. "If people will soon convert Che Guevara and Martí into hard currency, what can we celebrate?" Alluding to the recent currency reforms and the foreign currency shops created by the government, most Cubans cannot enter these shops.

Alexander Delgado from Gente de Zona also sang in this song: "There are no more lies, my people demand freedom and no dogma." This song made a splash on the Internet. The stock boom is well supported.

Yotuel Romero)commented on the song that Patria y vida is "a song of freedom, a song of life, a song that loves our land and loves us Cuba."