Cuba’s Ministry of Culture (MINCULT) released on Friday the video “Don’t get involved with Cuba”, dedicated to Donald Trump and a new example of an official campaign to criminalize Cuban independent civil society that demands respect for freedom of expression and an end to violence for political reasons. .
“The orange president was worried / Seeing that he lost the election / He asks those who do their errands / To hurry because the party is over / And he is watching the ‘baro’ is about to end / They formed a titingó”, reads lyrics , written by comedian Alejandro García “Virulo” and performed by various pro-government musicians.
Without explicitly mentioning the San Isidro Movement (MSI) or the 27N group, the subject reproduces the jargon used by spokesmen and the official media in the last month to attack activists who organized a sit-in at the Havana collective headquarters before violently evacuated by political police and hundreds of artists and citizens who gathered in front of MINCULT the next day to demand an end to this type of repressive action.
“Whoever is confused should be confused / Whoever wants clarity to come and see / The play is not complex or deep / It is clear how they want to proceed / It remains only to let them / And this will not happen,” he warns. the text on the subject.
José Manuel García Suárez, the director of the video, which was recorded in record time and released only 48 hours later, acknowledged that the production had all the institutional support.
“We had the support of all the artistic groups that joined, of all the culture companies, ARTEX, EGREM, the full ministry,” he told official television.
For filming, MINCULT convened Conga de Los Hoyos, one of the island’s heritage groups, founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1902, to make it perform in Havana Prado, in front of the luxurious SO / Paseo hotels. del Prado and Iberostar Grand Packard, instead of one of the humble neighborhoods in which the group was born and operates.
Among the performers of the song are, in addition to “Virulo” himself, salsa musicians Moisés Valle “Yumurí”, Mayito Rivera, Amaray, as well as Israel Rojas, from the duo Buena Fé, Ricardo Leyva, Dayán Carrera and María Victoria. Also participating are tresero Pancho Amat, the Entrevoces Choir and the National Symphony Orchestra.
“Nobody is fooled, they are upset because the nerve of cultural exchange has been exhausted. Why didn’t they throw more of them forward? They should do another subject demanding freedoms and citizenship rights, to be uniform. Let’s see if they were to receive the same support from the Government and the Ministry of Culture “, Brayan de la Cruz commented on the Facebook wall of the official website Cubadebate, who played the video.
Leo Ochoa Pompa added: “When they are outside Cuba, they ask any of them about the situation in Cuba and they tell you that they are artists, that they are not talking about politics, but borrowing bread and butter from the Castro dictatorship.”
“Nobody messes with them. Only they have finished everything. If your house falls, not because of your neighbor! Look inside!”, Said Yazmi Palenzuela.
On Twitter, Matancero free He added: “It’s striking that the video for the song was filmed with the best views of Old Havana, why wasn’t it filmed in Centro Habana, Guanabacoa or San Miguel del Padrón?”