The singer Pablo Milanés made public this Monday that he has signed the Manifesto of the Cuban Civil Societylaunched by a group of Cubans inside and outside the Island in favor of a change in the country.
He has not done it without further ado, but has accompanied the decision with a message, in their social networks“to all those who fight for freedoms and social and economic changes in Cuba.”
In it, he states that he agrees with the Manifesto because “as I have been expressing in my latest public statements, its proposals meet the presuppositions of what could be a front without parties, without tendencies, without old and new quarrels, which only lead to the disunity and incoherence of future achievements that will only be achieved with the unity of all Cubans”.
The musician encourages them to read the text “in depth” so that they appreciate “the essential idea” that the country needs: “give way to new voices and new ways of thinking, which demand new laws, new freedoms, new active participation within the current society, which would lead us to a dialogue of peace and an achievable future given the dire conditions in which this people finds itself, with no apparent way out”.
Eeitera that supports “this and another Manifesto that promotes changes within a spirit of sovereignty, inclusion and respect for human beings, their dignity and most basic aspirations”, regardless of where they arise
In addition, it reiterates that it supports “this and another Manifesto that promotes changes within a spirit of sovereignty, inclusion and respect for human beings, their dignity and most basic aspirations”, regardless of where they arise, “without prejudice and without conditioning political-ideological of any kind to achieve what we all seek through different paths”.
The Manifesto of Cuban Civil Society was issued last week in favor of “profound and urgent changes that will lead the country out of an unprecedented crisis and avoid a confrontation”, based on the idea that “the State only makes sense while it represents the interests of all its citizens, so a consensus of Cuban civil society has a superior moral force”.
Thus, they base the call on the “alarming situation in the country”, for which they blame, on the one hand, “a business centralization of the State, a source of inefficiency and corruption of some bureaucratic classes that have dragged the population for more than six decades to a dire situation”, and, on the other, to the “systematic coercion of essential rights such as free oral and written expression, as well as artistic creativity, free peaceful association, free movement, in particular the right of being able to leave their own country and return to it, and that of free economic entrepreneurship independent of citizens”.
The signing of the Manifesto, which can be done via email to [email protected], is open to “residents currently inside or outside of Cuba, since the Cuban nation extends beyond the Cuban archipelago to any part of the world where there is a Cuban identified with the collective aspirations of his compatriots”.
“The State only makes sense while it represents the interests of all that citizenry, for which a consensus of Cuban civil society has superior moral force”
So far, they have signed more than a hundred people. From Cuba, the opposition Manuel Cuesta Morúa, the writer Ángel Santiesteban, the activist Dunia Medina Moreno or the journalist María Matienzo stand out. From outside, sign, for example, the musicians Willy Chirino and Paquito D’Rivera, the publisher Felipe Lázaro, the historian Ariel Hidalgo and the activist Elena Larrinaga.
It is not the first time that Pablo Milanés has spoken out against the Cuban regime. The artist, who has lived in Spain for some time, was one of the former supporters of the Revolution who spoke harshly after the repression of the demonstrations of July 11, 2021.
His concert in Havana, on June 21, aroused a huge expectationprecisely because of that stance, much more critical than that of other members of his generation, notoriously Silvio Rodriguez.
Given the protests caused by the evidence that most of the two thousand tickets for the National Theater of Cuba had been sold to “organizations”, the cultural authorities they changed the venue of the showto the Coliseum of the Sports City of Havana.
However, the desire for Milanés to speak out on stage as he had done on social networks, or the same thing to happen as on the Carlos Varela concert the previous May 29, where attendees chanted the word “freedom” at various times, they disappeared during the performance. A strong police operation and the meticulous search of bags and cell phones then overshadowed the emotion of an audience that had not heard one of its most emblematic musicians live for several years.
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