The Music Can wait.

Written by: Paquito D’Rivera*

Paraphrased by: Roberto Sánchez (a.k.a. CubanCongaMan)

Published by: Diario Las Américas**
Published on: 08-04-2009

For nearly five decades, when Fidel Castro’s regime took power of Cuba, an army of protectors of the Cuban revolution came out from everywhere. They were armed by an uncontrollable and pitiful spirit of “compassion” for Cuba.  These people were the heirs of former admirers of infamous “revolutionary leaders” such as Lenin, Stalin and Mao, who had already been disgraced before the eyes of the world for the atrocities they had perpetrated on their own people.   After Che Guevara’s death, in 1967 and in the jungles of Bolivia, the image of this Argentine bandit emerging as a martyr fitted them like a glove to revive their antiquated, disturbing, and leftist idols of the past.  The main issue is that this viral-form of “Compassion for Cuba” only seems to affect those Cubans who sympathize with the oldest dictatorship on the planet and, hence, ignores and completely excludes from the mercy list the millions of Cubans in exile, broken families, marginalized political and religious figures, political prisoners, those murdered by firing squads, and the thousands who have perished at sea, while fleeing Castro’s paradise, where tourists from foreign revolutions come to bathe in their ideological holidays  (their invoices being canceled in U.S. dollars) with or without their own home government’s permission to travel to the island.  We may call those holiday trips a form of “psychological embargo”.

Recently, a group of American artists, educators, academicians, professionals, and business entrepreneurs wrote a letter to President Obama complaining that they have been adversely affected by the United States’ imposed cultural embargo against the Castro dictatorship.  They demanded their inalienable right to freely travel to the island and unconditionally welcome any artist the communist regime’s cultural ministry might choose to ship-off to American ports.  The letter does not mention a single word about the millions of Cuban citizens who are denied freedom to travel in and out of their own country.   Oh my …, what a selfish petition to a U.S. president!  How can they speak of  permitting an “uninhibited flow of art, culture, information, ideas, and debates “, while millions of Cubans are denied the right to the most basic information from the Internet, while dozens of independent bloggers live under continuous life threats or have been imprisoned with their only crime being to become informed or to inform others.  This seems like a joke!  Which Cuban citizen or group of Cubans on the island would be permitted to write this type of letter of appeal to Raul Castro without ending-up in a Cuban prison?  If this seems like an unbelievable question, ask poet María Elena Cruz Varela, who was forced to swallow her own writings!

The fact that this inopportune letter carries the signatures of Harry Belafonte, Carlos Santana, and other incoherent members of the elitist American “Leftist’s Caviar” is not surprising.  But the adherence of my countrymen and fellow musicians’ signatures to this petition, knowing full-well the true significance of words such as carrying “a respectful dialog with the Cuban government” seems to me like, at least, a ridiculous proposal.  It would have been much more meaningful for someone to write a similar message to Castro’s regime, requesting the rights for free speech for ALL Cubans, without repercussions, to enter and exit our own country without regime imposed hurdles, to democratically elect our government representatives, and then ask for the signatures of these American artists, educators, academicians, professionals, and entrepreneurs, who are so interested in the free-flow of ideas between our two countries.  In the meantime, the music can wait; don’t you agree?

*Paquito D’Rivera is an exiled Musician and Writer.
Photograph of Paquito D'Rivera holding clarinet by: Lane Pederson

For additional information about Mr. D'Rivera, please visit: paquitodrivera.com

** Diario Las America is an excellent Spanish-language Newspaper.  Additionally, it has been arguably the foremost news source for the Cuban-exile community for nearly five decades.  For additional information about Diario Las Americas, please visit its official Web-site at: http://www.diariolasamericas.com/

Planned 2010 Freedom Rally
Drum-Circle for Freedom Event

Written by: Roberto Sánchez (a.k.a. CubanCongaMan)
August 9, 2009

Technological advances such as the Internet and Social Media sites are allowing us to communicate across the world in ways that were previously unimaginable.  In recent months, we saw how hand-held devices and social-media sites like Twitter.com  were used as a powerful tool to make the world aware of the repression of freedoms that occurred after the 2009 Iran elections.  Outcries for help and supporting documentation, such as photographs and videos reached us, and more importantly, forced leaders around the world to, at least, acknowledge that fraudulent elections and an onslaught of violence had been unleashed on the freedom loving people of Iran. 

Although information technology is a recent phenomenon, the need to communicate with far-reaching tools has existed since primordial times.   From the moment that humans discovered fire and drums, the tools for long-distance communications were established.  Since then, smoke signals and drum sounds have been used to transmit messages across long distances.  For safety reasons, I would not promote the use of smoke signals, but I believe that drums can be safely and joyfully used to send a thundering message to the world.  The message will be simply that some have already lost their freedoms and some are losing them each day.  Just during this past week, Venezuelans were denied access to radio stations and other media that present opposing views to the government.  Tyranny is a calculated process, and tyrants slowly strip the citizens of their freedom speech and arms to rule them.  Humanity has achieved too much scientific, engineering, medical, social advancement to allow a handful of bullies to strip us of our freedoms.  History confirms that tyrants and bullies and those who helped them are always defeated.  The people will rise again and defeat them at their game.  In the spiritual domain, I believe that God has granted us free will and freedoms, as exemplified in the constitution of The United States of America.  In the physical domain, all I have are my words and drums and with that, and my allies, we will expose and defeat tyrants again.

I am planning, between now and early 2010, a series of strategies, practice sessions, and events to culminate on a Drum-Circle-For-Freedom Rally.  If you believe in the cause, like to bang on drums, and are willing to work for freedom, you be welcomed to participate in the event.    Please register with us, by visiting the Guest Book tab and follow me at: twitter.com/cubancongaman , such that, together, we can begin to develop, organize, and implement a thorough Action Plan for a meaningful and, yet, fun-filled rally.  It is my hope to meet you there!