A Question of Tolerance: The Arts in Cuba and in Miami viewed by a anti-Castro hardliner

"Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy." - José Julián Martí Pérez

Cuban artists against Decree 349 | Photo © Facebook / Luis Manuel Otero

The regime in Havana has zero tolerance for artists who criticize the Castro dictatorship. Celia Cruz, Olga Guillot and others were not only not able to play in Cuba, but there music was and continues to banned from the airwaves, despite the artists having died years ago.

Therefore it is the height of irony that  the Associated Press's Gisela Salomon writing an article titled "Miami sees a return to Cold War cultural hard line on Cuba"  cited the tweet of the Ambassador to the Castro dictatorship, “Cultural terrorism? Miami politicians ask for Cuban artists to be excluded from a local concert” and failed to provide any context. Not to mention that the "cultural hard line" in Cuba has never lessened and is a zero tolerance policy. If excluding a Cuban artist from a local concert is "cultural terrorism" than what does one call removing all the works of an artist from their country of origin, banning their works from the national airwaves, and barring them from returning to their own country? This was done to Celia Cruz and many other artists, and has been described as "cultural genocide."

Salomon's article provides differing points of view from the Cuban Exile community on whether or not pro-communist, pro-regime artists should be able to play in Miami.  This is what one would expect in a free society: a diversity of opinions. Over twitter I was volunteered into the conversation.

#Cuba #Miami @giselasalomon calls us #Cuban exiles “intolerant.” She ignores the fact that the only intolerant has been the Castro regime for 61 years, repressing and killing our nation. Another journalist using regime propaganda rhetoric. @AP @johnjsuarez @alexotaola pic.twitter.com/zTqpyND8iO

— CubaPoliceAbuse 🇨🇺🚨 (@PoliceAbuseCuba) February 4, 2020

It is true that when quoting the dictatorship's ambassador uncritically that Salomon is "using regime propaganda rhetoric", but the claim that exiles have never been intolerant ignores history. Ironically, so does Salomon in her article.

In 1996 folks trying to attend a concert by Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba were verbally and physically assaulted by 200 exile protesters.  I condemned it at the time, and still do today.

Three years later in 1999 there were violent protests at the Miami Arena during a performance of the Cuban salsa band Los Van Van that left one person injured, and eleven arrested.  I spoke out again at that time condemning what happened, and still do today.

In April 2003 three young black Cuban men were summarily executed by the Castro regime for hijacking a boat and trying to flee Cuba. Cuban musicians and artists were obligated by the Castro dictatorship to sign a public letter supporting these executions, and more generalized repression, and many did, including Omara Portuondo, who years later would be invited by President Obama to perform at the White House.


This blog was started in 2009 responding to violent protests against the Colombian musician, Juanes, including death threats against his person, when he announced that he would be holding a concert in Cuba.  I spoke out again at the time condemning the death threats, pleading for tolerance and free expression, and organized a petition denouncing the death threats. At the same time we gave a critical and nuanced assessment of the concert.

Nor was any mention made of Decree 349 or the fact that Cuban artists living in the island that are critical of the regime are beaten up, jailed, and systematically censored. According to Amnesty International, "under the decree, all artists, including collectives, musicians and performers, are prohibited from operating in public or private spaces without prior approval by the Ministry of Culture. Individuals or businesses that hire artists without the authorization can be sanctioned, and artists that work without prior approval can have their materials confiscated or be substantially fined. Under the new decree, the authorities also have the power to immediately suspend a performance and to propose the cancellation of the authorization granted to carry out the artistic activity."

The speculation made in the article that the passion aroused by visiting artists was due to the 2020 elections fails to take into account this partial history, or the fact that the Castro regime extrajudicially executed tens of thousands of Cubans and is still doing it today not only in Cuba, but also in Venezuela.

The fact that Cuban artists, to be able to continue performing in Cuba, have supported the summary executions of young black men is a legitimate cause for anger, and those who signed should not be granted visas to the United States.

However, those who did not, and do not have blood on their hands, regardless their ideological outlook should be able to play their music. We do not have an obligation to watch them play, but we do have an obligation not to censor or threaten those that we disagree with.  That is what the Castro regime does.  It is because I am a hardliner that completely rejects the Castro dictatorship that the defense of artistic freedom and freedom of expression more broadly are precious to me, along with the virtue of tolerance for those I disagree with.

Nostalgia Corner: Why the Bolero Was Censored in Cuba | My Latino Voice

My Latino Voice, November 4, 2009

Nostalgia Corner: Why the Bolero Was Censored in Cuba

Written by Kenia Fernandez

The recent Juanes concert in Cuba created a storm of controversy over the issue of censorship of cultural expression. Many non-Cubans were perplexed by the intensity of emotion in Cuban-American communities. But a recent conference I attended illustrated how the emotions were attached to the sounds and scenes we saw erupt across the country.

Boleros Prohibidos, o La Habana Sin Olga Guillot ["Forbidden Love Songs, or Havana Without Olga Guillot," the acknowledged queen of Cuban torch songs], is a powerful multimedia tour of the romantic music of Havana in the 1950s, the golden age of the bolero. Its author, Armando López, a journalist and cultural critic, was a man who came of age in Havana's cabarets and night clubs, when world-class stars such as Olga Guillot, Elena Burke, and Beny Moré were creating their best ballads: "Miénteme," "Qué Sabes Tú," "Cómo Fue."

Olga Guillot, her music was banned and black listed by the Castro regime.

I grew up hearing this music, and it does evoke powerful emotions in me as well. Few love songs in English can move me so. These songs and artists are the soundtrack of memories of my mother and father, dancing to "Soy Tan Feliz" in an embrace, of my abuelito serenading my abuelita with "Contigo en la Distancia," in his honeyed baritone.

The Union City audience of several hundred bolero fans -- many silver-haired abuelitos y abuelitas, and not a few much younger folks -- sang along with every single sound clip, and ooh'ed and aah'ed at the photos and film clips of their idols. Many were overcome with feelings and memories.
Why the nostalgia, why such emotion? Anglo-American seniors don't tend to cry like this when they hear Nat King Cole or Johnny Mathis.

López went on to explain that in Revolutionary Cuba the bolero came to be seen as incongruent with the goals of building a new society. First, jukeboxes were confiscated from corner bars and nightclubs (there were as many as 20,000 jukeboxes in Havana in the 1950s). Then, in 1961, at the First Congress of Writers and Artists, music was defined as an organ of integration into the new Revolutionary society. The bolero came to be seen as a reactionary genre, in bad taste, and ultimately, banned. Cuba's world-class composers and performers, many of whom had brought the genre to its golden age, were abruptly silenced.

Finally, in 1968, in the Ofensiva Revolucionaria -- the Cuban equivalent of China's Cultural Revolution -- most of the 1,200 cabarets and dance halls for which Havana was known were shut down (with only a couple of exceptions, including the notable Tropicana). Bolero lovers and performers were left with no viable venues. An entire generation was traumatized by loss of the very words and music that had defined the key moments of their lives -- coming of age, first loves, stolen kisses, secret romances.

So in the context of musical censorship, it is not surprising that Juanes and his project stirred so much controversy. Heartfelt debates on the usefulness of economic and cultural boycotts are not likely to end, as long as there are states that attempt to silence a love song.

Armando López is a writer, journalist, and arts producer, using a fusion of genres and artists. His shows have been staged at Lincoln Center and other major venues in New York and Havana. In Cuba he founded the journal Opina, which the state shut down in 1990. He has spoken on Cuban popular music at universities and cultural institutions all over the US. He often writes for Cubaencuentro.com.

http://mylatinovoice.com/music-and-arts/13-music/1278-nostalgia-corner-why-the-bolero-was-censored-in-cuba.html

Peace Without Borders: An Assessment of the Concert

Peace Without Borders:
An Assessment of the Concert

"Only oppression should fear the full exercise of freedom."
Jose Marti y Perez

A little over a month ago I outlined my plan with regards to the Peace Without Borders concert in Havana and that was to watch or listen to the September 20th concert get feedback from people who attended the concert and from members of the democratic opposition then draw conclusions about the event.

I ended up at the University of Miami with members of Raices, UMCAUSA, and the Free Cuba Foundation watching a live feed of the concert projected onto a large screen with press in attendance.

The Concert
Let me begin by warning the reader: I'm a human rights activist not a culture or music critic. These are my personal impressions. The first two hours of the concert where by and large a drag. Victor Manuel, Danny Rivera and especially Cucu Diamantes, a Cuban exile from New York, did not distinguish themselves at all on stage. It was two hours into the concert when I was interviewed and asked about my feelings about the concert and I answered truthfully: bored.

Then Orishas came on and the concert finally took off with a rousing set of music.

They ended their set and introduced Juanes who began the most powerful set content wise of the concert. The words and images that impacted me the most were during "Nada Particular" a duet with the Spaniard Miguel Bose. During this song at the Concert in Havana a young Cuban with a flag is invited on stage by Juanes at 6:17 as they sang Libertad! in the video and 12 seconds later is taken away by what appears to be a plainclothes state security agent.

"Nada Particular" has lyrics that translate "Give me an island in the middle of the sea and call her Liberty. Sing strong brother. Tell me that the wind will not sink her. That my history will not bring pain that my hands will work for peace and that if I die it is love that kills me":

Dame una isla en

el medio del mar

Llámala Libertad

Canta fuerte hermano

Dime que el viento no

no la hundirá

Que mi historia no traiga dolor

que mis manos trabajen la paz

que si muero me mates de amor

The other song that Cubans on the island read a lot into was Sueños which Juanes dedicated to those kidnapped in Colombia and "to all those denied their freedom wherever they are."



The lyrics here are equally applicable to the Cuban reality "I dream of liberty for those kidnapped in the middle of the jungle and I dream of peace for my people bled dry and an end to this unjust war":

Sueño libertad para todos los que estan
Secuestrados hoy en medio de la selva
Y sueño con la paz de mi pueblo desangrado
Y con el final de esta injusta guerra

Silvio Rodriguez who signed a petition justifying the regime’s imprisonment of 75 nonviolent dissidents and the execution of three young Afro-Cubans who tried to flee to the United States back in the spring of 2003 sang a stirring redition of "Ojala" a song that I understand he had not sung in 20-years. A great musician but an unrepentant apologist for a regime that has scores of prisoners of conscience.

I thought Carlos Varela also put on a good show in his appearance with Miguel Bose earlier in the show where they sang "Muro" and later on with "25 mil mentiras sobre la verdad" and "Colgado del Cielo."



I know I'm leaving out a lot but these were the sounds and images that I thought were highlights and my impressions of the concert.

The Dictatorship's Propaganda Offensive

"Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose." -Joseph Goebbels

Fidel Castro claims that the Peace Without Borders concert was a blow against the embargo . This despite the fact that Juanes obtained the Treasury licenses for an artistic exchange is within the bounds of the sanctions regime. That is just the tip of the iceberg in the regime's efforts to take advantage of the Peace Without Borders concert.

Now I am going to speculate - which is always dangerous to the speculator - that the dictatorship in their negotiations with Juanes pressured him successfully into not raising the issue of Cuba's prisoners of conscience - which despite what most may believe is not a political issue - a human rights issue.

Nevertheless the regime figured it could not manipulate the concert much beyond effective crowd control to ensure that nothing happened at the Plaza of the Revolution. Therefore it had to focus on impacting the context in which the concert was carried out. Selectively editing interviews from broadcasts on Miami's local television and most probably having one of their agents send a death threat to Juanes by Twitter and the scenario was set for their propaganda offensive with the Cuban populace and the international movement. Pioneered by Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein montage was perfected by Leni Riefenstahl and one can see it at work in this Cuban propaganda production.

The goal is simple present the Cuban government as reasonable and their adversaries in the worse light with editing that appeals to raw emotion to impact the viewer. This clip demonstrates this technique. The reality is that there has been a wide ranging debate with individuals and organizations pro and con as well as neutral on the subject. Carlos Alberto Montaner who is widely demonized by the regime came out and defended and supported the Peace Without Borders Concert. Basically, the normal state of affairs in a democracy including extremists that cross the line of good taste. Nobody ever said free expression was going to always be pretty. At the same time those who burned or crushed CDs and other materials were widely repudiated by the exile community. The day after the concert an article appeared in the Science section of the New York Times that Fidel Castro had called on the Soviets to attack the United States with a nuclear first strike in the early 1980s. No amount of spin can alter the factual and detestable legacy of the dictatorship.

The Bottom line

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us not overplay or underplay the importance of this concert as some have done. When Pope John Paul II went to Cuba he negotiated the return of Christmas to the Cuban people as a national holiday after a 28 year absence and handed Fidel Castro a list of political prisoners he wanted released. Oswaldo Paya and members of All United (Todos Unidos) gathered more than 25,000 signatures from Cuban nationals who provided their home address and identification number to a petition demanding human rights and reform of the current system which forced the Cuban government to change its constitution. Cuban musicians singing in Cuba have said a lot more in their music such as Frank Delgado, Porno para Ricardo, and Los Aldeanos, just to name a few, which is why they were vetoed from playing in the Peace Without Borders concert, and in the case of Gorki from Porno para Ricardo led to more than two years in prison for not renouncing his anti-government statements. Also calling out "Cuba Libre" doesn't mean much in the Cuban context when the dictatorship has launched an operation titled "Viva Cuba Libre." It may a mean a lot to people in Miami, but in Cuba it is a phrase the regime has used.

I never thought a pop music festival was going to bring down the regime, and I did believe that the dictatorship would try to manipulate the situation but I did hope that one of the artists explicitly calling for the freedom of Cuba's Amnesty International prisoners of conscience, as many relatives of the prisoners had requested might have improved their conditions and perhaps led to some being released. Something that the Ladies in White ask for weekly and that Berta Soler went to the Revolution Plaza at one point to demand that her husband Angel Moya be given proper medical care. who incidentally turned 45 on the day of the concert September 20, 2009 (Angel's sixth one behind bars). It would not have caused the government to fall nor cost lives but perhaps saved a few. The concert is over now. Cubans on and off the island got to forget their worries for a few hours and listen to music; some positive words on changing hate for love; freedom; and change but then back to the same grind. Yet despite the disappointments outlined above and the repression visited on many the concert was worth it. Why? Because it puts Cuba under an international spotlight and it is an opportunity to highlight the human rights challenges faced and to speak up for those prisoners of conscience suffering there. If not done by the musicians themselves then by human rights activists and the prisoner's families which can only help their plight.

However the statements made by Juanes that the concert had achieved its goal of helping to bring people together was incorrect. Also his statement that: "This event reaffirmed the necessity for all of us to unite... The government of the U.S. has to change and Cuba has to change too but this show of love and peace and affection is so important for both sides," is either a shallow or a simple misunderstanding of the Cuban situation. The US has changed since 2001, ironically during the Bush Administration, there has been more than $2.8 billion dollars in trade with the Cuban government. For years (including during George W. Bush's administration) and until the present date there have been joint military exercises with the US and Cuban military. The Cuban government's response: more repression and a massive crackdown in 2003 responding to the petition of tens of thousands of Cubans for change with the Varela Project.

There is no division between Cubans on the island and in exile that requires a mediator to bring them together is if this where Northern Ireland. There is a constant influx of tens of thousands of Cubans from the island thousands strong every year. The division is between the Cuban people and the dictatorship that has systematically denied Cubans their rights for 50 years and shows no signs of changing. The systematic denial of human rights in Cuba is structural violence against all Cubans by the totalitarian power structure on the island. When someone like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a Regis Iglesias, or Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia exercise the power of the powerless in and attempt to end this violence and bring a real peace they suffer beatings and imprisonment. This is the source of the conflict in Cuba not a misunderstanding between the United States and Cuba or between Cuban exiles and Cubans on the island. The conflict that needs to be resolved is between the totalitarian dictatorship and the violence it visits on all Cubans.

Free Cuba Foundation Statement Regarding Juanes's Sept. 20 Concert in Cuba

Free Cuba Foundation Statement Regarding Juanes's Sept. 20 Concert in Cuba

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Colombian singer/songwriter Juanes is organizing a concert in Cuba as part of his Paz Sin Fronteras (Peace Without Borders) concert tour. He has repeatedly said he is performing for the Cuban people, not the government, bringing a message of hope, love, and peace. Yet, he has also said that he will not speak out about Cuba’s poor human rights record, nor meet with members of Cuba’s opposition movement, in order to keep the event from becoming “political.”

While the Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) recognizes that Juanes has the right to invite whomever he pleases to sing with him, having both Amaury Perez and Silvio Rodriguez sends a mixed message. Both are staunch supporters of the Cuban Communist government and signed a petition justifying the regime’s imprisonment of 75 nonviolent dissidents and the execution of three young Afro-Cubans who tried to flee to the United States back in the spring of 2003. Although no one denies their artistic talent, poet Ezra Pound and singer Paul Robeson had their reputation tainted for endorsing Hitler and Stalin respectively. Whatever the quality of their art, it is immoral for artists to support injustice.

FCF is not concerned that this concert will grant legitimacy to Cuba’s totalitarian regime, because no unelected dictatorship could ever gain it from a pop concert.

FCF calls for respect for freedom of expression everywhere, and denounces any violence that stifles that freedom. Censorship imposed through violence and intimidation is routine in places such as Cuba. However, it should never be tolerated here in Miami, where many of the victims of this regime reside. That is why we are denouncing the threats made against Juanes. We respect nonviolent protests, but the destruction of Juanes CDs, conjure up images of book burnings in communist and fascist dictatorships. These acts send a false message not only to the rest of the world, but more importantly to Cubans on the island. These acts serve to feed the Cuban government’s propaganda machinery which aims to smear the exile community with the aim of generating divisions between ordinary Cubans living here and on the island.

Our organization believes that all individuals, including Cubans, have the right to take part in the arts and in cultural events, as enshrined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

If one is serious about peace then one should speak out against injustice and the absence of freedom. In Cuba, musicians who are independent or critical of the regime are censored, and there are many prisoners of conscience behind bars for exercising their human rights. These are not political issues. These are human rights issues and issues of human dignity. A concert like this could help foster freedom of expression in the arts the same way the late Pope John Paul II made gains in the area of freedom of religion, as he celebrated Mass before thousands of Cubans, and called upon them to not be afraid and to “do all that you can to build a future of ever greater dignity and freedom.”

Therefore FCF’s Message to Juanes is:

If you want to bring a message of peace, reconciliation, and impacting change to Cuba, then including artists that oppose the dictatorship is a logical necessity, and speaking up for human rights and the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience is essential. Only then will this concert truly live up to its name of “Peace Without Borders”, otherwise it risks being remembered as the “Censored Within Boundaries” concert. This is the concern raised by many Cuban artists both on the island and in exile, who insist the concert live up to its name.

FREE CUBA FOUNDATION E-BOARD

Denounce Death Threats Against Juanes
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/denounce-death-threats-against-juanes.html

MENSAJE DE INTEGRANTES DE LOS 75 PRISIONEROS DE CONCIENCIA CONDENADOS EN LA PRIMAVERA NEGRA DEL 2003 SOBRE EL CONCIERTO DE JUANES

MENSAJE DE INTEGRANTES DE LOS 75 PRISIONEROS* DE CONCIENCIA CONDENADOS EN LA PRIMAVERA NEGRA DEL 2003 SOBRE EL CONCIERTO DE JUANES

Los abajo firmantes, prisioneros de conciencia de los 75 llevados a las cárceles en Marzo de 2003 y condenados hasta a 28 años de cárcel por luchar pacíficamente para lograr una Cuba democrática, reconciliada y con respeto a los derechos humanos, expresamos nuestro apoyo al Concierto Paz sin Fronteras, que brindarán los cantantes Juanes y Miguel Bosé, junto a otros destacados artistas en La Habana el 20 de septiembre.

Consideramos que este concierto, a realizarse en la Plaza de la Revolución, anterior Plaza Cívica José Martí, desde la misma posición en que el Papa Juan Pablo II oficiara su memorable misa en 1998, constituye una gran oportunidad para avanzar en la reconciliación entre todos los cubanos, y dejar atrás los odios que durante tantos años han envenenado nuestra Patria.

Declaramos que a pesar de las largas condenas, vejaciones y los sufrimientos infligidos injustamente a nosotros y nuestras familias, nuestros corazones no albergan resentimientos hacia quienes nos reprimen con crueldad. Cuando la situación nacional se agrava, precisamente se impone intensificar los esfuerzos para en un marco de concordia nacional alcanzar soluciones pacíficas y restañar las enormes heridas causadas a Cuba por más de 50 años de totalitarismo.

Estamos conscientes de que este concierto es sólo un paso en nuestro objetivo de reconstruir la Patria, y nos duele que no puedan participar más artistas residentes en Cuba y en el exilio. Somos un sólo pueblo. Sin embargo, por este camino se impondrá la racionalidad y en fecha no lejana podremos disfrutar juntos de la cultura y tradiciones nacionales.

Hoy más que nunca, ante los desafíos de la crisis general que atenaza nuestra Patria, tenemos que unirnos, dejando atrás los agravios del pasado e ideologías fracasadas. Es el momento de mirar hacia el provenir, con la vista en nuestra imperecedera condición de cubanos. Las nuevas generaciones reclaman de nosotros responsabilidad y la reconstrucción de una “Cuba con todos y para el bien de todos”.

Miembros de los 75, a quienes ha sido posible contactar en las prisiones, o con licencia extrapenal con posibilidad de regresar a la cárcel, y están de acuerdo con lo anteriormente expresado:




Alfredo Felipe Fuente,
condenado a 26 años, Prisión Guanajay Provincia Habana





Miguel Galván Gutiérrez,
condenado a 26 años, Prisión Guanajay, Provincia Habana




Iván Hernández Carrillo,
condenado a 25 años, Prisión “El Pre”, Guamajal, Villa Clara





Félix Navarro Rodríguez,
condenado a 25 años, Prisión Canaleta, Ciego de Ávila




José Luis García Paneque,
condenado a 24 años, Prisión “Las Mangas”, Granma





Eduardo Díaz Fleitas,
condenado a 21 años, Prisión Kilo 5 ½, Pinar del Río





Ricardo González Alfonso,
condenado a 20 años, Prisión Combinado del Este, Ciudad de La Habana






Diosdado González Marrero,
condenado a 20 años, prisión Kilo 5 ½, Pinar del Río





Pedro Argüelles Morán,
condenado a 20 años, Prisión Canaleta, Ciego de Ávila





Pablo Pacheco Ávila,
condenado a 20 años, Prisión Canaleta, Ciego de Ávila






Julio Cesar Gálvez Rodríguez,
condenado a 20 años, Prisión Combinado del Este, Ciudad de La Habana





Marcelo Cano Rodríguez,
condenado a 18 años, Prisión Ariza, Cienfuegos






José Ubaldo Izquierdo,
condenado a 16 años, Prisión Guanajay, Provincia Habana





Antonio Villarreal Acosta,
condenado a 15 años, Prisión La Pendiente, Villa Clara






Adolfo Fernández Sainz,
condenado a 15 años, Prisión Canaleta, Ciego de Ávila




José Miguel Martínez Hernández,
condenado a 13 años, Prisión Quivicán, Provincia habana




Efrén Fernández Fernández,
condenado a 12 años, Prisión de Guanajay, Provincia Habana



Héctor Raúl Valle Fernández,
condenado a 12 años, Prisión Guanajay, Provincia Habana


Margarito Broche Espinosa,
condenado a 25 años, con licencia extrapenal por serias enfermedades

Héctor Palacios Ruiz,
condenado a 25 años, con licencia extrapenal por serias enfermedades

Oscar Espinosa Chepe,
condenado a 20 años, con licencia extrapenal por serias enfermedades

Roberto de Miranda,
condenado a 20 años, con licencia extrapenal por serias enfermedades

Jorge Olivera Castillo,
condenado a 18 años, con licencia extrapenal por serias enfermedades

Marcelo López Bañobre,
condenado a 15 años, con licencia extrapenal por serias enfermedades

La Habana, 2 de septiembre de 2009



*La lista completa de presos de conciencia todavía en la cárcel hoy del grupo de los 75 se encuentra aquí: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/cuba-list-prisoners-of-conscience

Aunque hay mucho mas presos que de los 75.

Freedom of Expression & The Juanes Affair

Freedom of Expression & The Juanes Affair

Recognizing the boundary between vigorous debate and assault

"Only oppression should fear the full exercise of freedom."

Jose Marti y Perez

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Article 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I had committed myself to not addressing the Peace Without Frontiers concert organized by Juanes in Havana due to a lack of time and interest viewing it through an entertainment and cultural prism.
At this moment Ariel Sigler Amaya, Alfredo Pulido López, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Normando Hernández González, Alfredo Dominguez Batista, Jose Daniel Ferrer and Dr. Garcia Paneque are deathly ill. I especially fear for the lives of Ariel Sigler Amaya and Normando Hernandez who are both emaciated and in the case of Ariel can no longer walk.

I am also deeply concerned about the July 21 arrest of Dr. Darsi Ferrer who has exposed the horrible injustices of the Cuban medical system on film and now faces years in prison. Amnesty International has identified 58 Cuban prisoners of conscience rotting in Cuban prisons for exercising their fundamental human rights. This should generate a lot more passion and outrage then a pop concert in Cuba.

Sadly Cuba is not the only human rights disaster in the world there are others in similar circumstances that need help. In the past few weeks I’ve had to mobilize with others to get a friend out of a Zimbabwean detention center that has a track record of torture; denounce attacks against journalists in Venezuela not to mention highlight a new law to clamp down on freedom of expression; march with Iranian exiles against the killing of students and pro-democracy activists in Iran; sign petitions and lobby for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi who has spent more than a decade under house arrest and has now had her sentence unjustly extended an additional 18 months along with more than 2,000 Burmese political prisoners rotting in prisons throughout Burma; denouncing the extrajudicial execution of Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova; denouncing the rape of a Chinese student in one of the infamous Chinese black jails and other actions. These outrages should generate more passion than a pop music concert.

Nevertheless the Juanes affair dominates the news in South Florida and has gotten uglier obligating me to speak out. Why? Because as a human rights activist one cannot remain silent when they are being violated in front of you in your own hometown. Sadly this is not the first time Human Rights Watch back in 1992 wrote a report on violations of the freedom of expression in Miami and followed up with a 1994 report. This is the same organization accused by the Cuban Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in June of 2009 of being mercenaries. This is because Human Rights Watch is both independent and objective and has written a profound analysis of Cuba’s repressive machinery and held the regime accountable for decades. With regards to the situation in Miami I’ve spoken out in print and in public both in 1996 and 1999 respectively during the Rubalcaba and Los Van Van affairs and do so again now.

Now a vigorous debate about the merits of a pop music concert in Cuba is fine, although not of great interest. My plan was to watch or listen to the September 20th concert get feedback from people who attended the concert and from members of the democratic opposition then draw conclusions about the event. This remains the plan with regards to the concert, but this essay serves to address a more important topic: the right of Juanes and a group of musicians to play in Cuba and the right of a Colombian artist to form his own opinions about Cuba and not be threatened with physical violence.

Freedom of expression is an inalienable right for all individuals in all countries, at all times especially in matters of civic and political expression and those that seek to censor free expression, intimidate persons seeking to express themselves, imprison them or terrorize them is guilty of committing a profound injustice. Individuals here have crossed that line and demonstrated their contempt for human rights.

Two clear examples first at the demonstration on August 14th on 35th Ave. and SW 8th Street where a black shirt representing Juanes was doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire by one of the demonstrators who stated to the press: “This is what we are going to do with him burn him for being a communist, a traitor, a terrorist, and for licking Fidel Castro’s boots.” Secondly, A day later on Twitter Juanes received the following message: "I hate what you are saying but you will die for defending your right to say it."These are not examples of free speech but fall under the legal definition of assault: the threat to carry out physical harm against an individual and demonstrating the means to do it and constitutes a true threat. Another example of this type of language involving death threats against a Cuban exile activist occurred in 2007 the individual making the phone calls was identified by the police and interviewed on Channel 41.

This is intolerable in a free society. However this is the kind of language often used by Cuban government agents and reflects a country that is second in the world only to China (28) with 21 imprisoned journalists according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Currently there are 58 human beings rotting in Cuban prisons recognized by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience which means they are there because they were willing to put their lives and reputation on the line to defend human rights. Just days ago a man spoke out in front of a camera that he is hungry and days later is sentenced to two years in prison. These are the kind of threats that are all too common in totalitarian states like Cuba.

Everyone, even a musician, has the right to their opinion and to expression; and that includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The debate over whether the concert and the message will leave a positive legacy in Cuba can be heatedly debated but the right of anyone from any country going to any country to play their music and express themselves is a fundamental right. Death threats meant to intimidate and silence dissent are unacceptable and need to be condemned.

One must separate politics from other spheres of life only totalitarians subsume everything to a political ideology. One of the questions raised by critics of the concert is "if Juanes would’ve played in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship?" Well for the record one of the greatest bands of all time The Police did just that in 1982 in Viña del Mar. They played a concert and were interviewed on Chilean television. They did not criticize the Pinochet regime during their visit: they played their set and did their interview focusing on their music and the band. That did not mean that Sting, Andy Summers, or Stewart Copeland were Pinochet supporters. They were musicians doing a gig.

Years later in 1988 Sting did pen a song They Danced Alone which blasts Pinochet’s dictatorship. The band also played in Argentina during the military junta in the midst of thousands being disappeared and brutally extrajudicially killed. Do not expect much from musicians other than they play their music well and are entertaining. If they care about human rights fine, but they better know how to play well.

A final observation about the Juanes concert which is billed as an apolitical affair. When you visit the official website of the concert series you’ll find that one of the documents of interest is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights encompasses civil and political rights but are not political in and of themselves but fundamental and transcendent rights that are beyond the politics of the day. If the musician understands this fact the September 20 concert in Havana should be an interesting show.