Havana Cuba. — Pablo Milanés, the artist who in recent years has distanced himself from the dictatorship and who has had no qualms about demanding freedom and justice regardless of the consequences, would offer a concert in Havana, in a room with capacity for more than 2,000 people, but less than 100 managed to buy the entrance tickets.
The theater administration had not only limited the sale to four tickets per buyer, but also reserved some 1,700 ballots, which it distributed among what it called “state agencies” – although at no time did it clarify what these were or if it was an initiative of the cultural institution or the fulfillment of an order they received from where the decisions, although foreign, do not lead to discussion, only compliance—.
But, in the absence of a note clarifying the destination of the “royalty” tickets, there is enough suspicion and bad experiences among Cubans to guess what happened, especially when just a few days ago the Carlos Varela concert concluded under claims of freedom on the part of a public against which the police could do nothing, not only because it was the majority who shouted at the top of their lungs and that would have been a massacre, but because perhaps the regime was not expecting it, perhaps trusting in the effect ” dissuasive” of the abusive convictions against the peaceful protesters of July 11, 2021.
It is evident what happened in this case of Pablo Milanés. It was enough to find out in the streets to know who those almost 2,000 “guests” would be, who now in the Sport City —with the capacity to multiply that figure several times—there will be many more among students from military schools, soldiers, policemen, all dressed in civilian clothes and duly instructed on what to do when “the situation requires it”. They have even given them the script about the signs they have to raise, the slogans they have to shout and even the t-shirts they have to wear, all with printed government labels, so that there are no doubts (to the foreign press, because no one more can deceive in Cuba) about the “popularity” of a government that is more abhorrent every day, because the term “unpopular” ceased to serve decades ago.
And not only have they sought to replace the public with a mob of repressors, but for days they have quartered hundreds of uniformed special troops and, as a consequence, have occupied a good amount of resources due to the fear of a concert that they themselves have organized, although not so that we listen to Pablito, but to project them — such cavemen in matters of democracy — an image of “good people”, the one they hate, but that they still need now that they have the rope much more tangled around their necks and from Washington the winds of that ill-fated thaw begin to blow again.
It is not by chance that this concert and that of Charles Varelaas well as the tribute of the EGREM to Chucho Valdés, three protesting voices that, yes, have been more than clear in expressing what they think, but they are also not those of activists and artists with radical positions of opposition and frontal fight against the regime , and precisely for this reason they have been chosen for them, so retrograde, clumsily getting into the role of “openness”, of “tolerant”, of types who do not hold grudges, when, in reality —knowing them as we know them—, what they want to lock the three of them up and throw the key into the sea, or at least censor them for life, as they have done and will continue to do with less internationally visible protesting artists, dissidents and opponents.
If these big-bellied guys have been “continuous” in anything, it is that they continue to be just as repressive as they are bunglers and cheats, just like their trainers were, sorry, I meant “teachers.”
What they are trying to do now with Pablo Milanés is the same thing that they have been doing for 60 years every time that, in order to ingratiate themselves with the White House, they have wanted to pretend to be “tolerant”, although only for an “external” public opinion that is satisfied with the official news but, very conveniently, ignores its background.
So, in a few hours, if the concert at the Sports City finally takes place – because they have even thought of “suspending it due to rain” or whatever, we know that – Pablo Milanés may end up surrounded not only by the public who admires him and that he waits to sing to them after a long time, but by thousands of repressors disguised as civilians, waiting for another “combat order”, perhaps worse than the previous one.
We will have to wait to see what happens, although the truth is that, throughout Cuba, from one end to the other, in recent days I have only seen people anxious to satisfy their hunger, to have electricity, to emigrate, to live a life normal not far from here, but in the country where they were born, and which is the one they want to die, albeit with dignity. People who, contrary to what the dictatorship says, do not have to pay a penny for shouting “Freedom”, for crying out for it so many times until they are left without a voice, until the word becomes a reality.
OPINION ARTICLE
The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the issuer and do not necessarily represent the opinion of CubaNet.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +1 (786) 316-2072, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
