FROM “Homeland and Life” became the anthem of those who took to the mass demonstrations in Cuba on July 11, 2021, I you him was intended to be the voice of the Cuban people outside the island. However, he makes it clear that he is not the leader. “The one in quotation marks that they want to put me, I’m crazy”he notes in an interview. LD.
“They always hope that the leader is the one who says what to do and not. I believe that every Cuban is free to fight for freedom,” he explains. “When we have a free Cuba and when there are elections, we will elect our president and we will choose a leader to lead us. Not yet,” he says.
We must learn from the mistakes we may have made in the past. “The same mistake has already been made in Cuba.following the leader who was going to save us. Almighty who said: I am the father of all… led us to destruction“, – states the artist. “There is a motto that says: a united people will never be defeated. Many have used it. Now it’s our turn to use it.”
Cuban dream
Through his music, Yotuel conveys the dream of thousands of Cubans who want to live. released in their countrythat on the island you can prosper on your own and not depend on alms. This is what he sings to us with his countryman Chris Tamayoin “Lambo in Varadero”.
“90% of Cubans want prosperityHe wants to have a decent job, he doesn’t want to stand in long lines for a piece of chicken. 90% of Cubans don’t want their fish to be handed out. He wants them to give him sticks so they can go look for him,” Yotuel says. “That’s why we’re working to motivate our people so they have the strength and faith that one day things will change,” adds Chris. who keeps getting closer to the interview.
“We are fighting for freedom so that Cubans have rights. The right to move, the right to think, the right to speak, the right to demand, the right to be different… So that people can dream of relaxation, Jotuel explains. “That’s what we want to achieve in order for Cubans to prosper. But without leaving Cuba, inside Cuba.”
change is possible
On July 11, 2021, the city took a giant step. “It not only helped the Cubans realize that they have power, but also realized who is the real enemy. and he is at home“, – he reflects. Yotuel can not forget the phrase of the dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel, calling on the “revolutionaries” to fight against their brothers just because they think differently. “Combat order issued”said the communist leader to try to curb anti-government protests.
That’s why it’s hard for him to understand the attitude of some Spanish and European politicians who still defend the regime. “When someone wants to understand you, put the weight of your backpack on him,” the monk taught him. Jotuel invites the friends of Castroism to do this exercise and “Put on a Cuban backpack” behind the back
“What will happen in Spain if there is a demonstration and the president says: the combat order has been given … The Spaniards take to the streets, and whoever thinks differently than you: kill him, beat him,” he asks. “Put on your backpack those Cuban mothers They do not know what they will feed the children that they should engage in prostitution for a little milk or a piece of bread, who lives in fear kill your children,” he adds.
This is the reality of the Cubans. “They just killed a young black man in Cuba.. He was 17 years old and left to bleed out on the street,” Jotuel recalls. Worst of all, with this assassination, the communist regime wanted to warn its people. Negroes were hanged in front of the square, and they said to the slaves: this will happen to you if you try to pass through Canyaveral.
Cuba, dead end
The only way out that thousands of Cubans find is to leave Cuba. Yothuel himself had no choice but to leave from their land in search of a better life. He was 18 years old, and in his case, albeit with great effort, he achieved a dream of prosperity. Last year he even received latin grammy. But the dictatorship demanded its price: can’t go back.
“Why do you need glory if you cannot return to Havana?” he asks in his latest single. So it is, as it is. The question goes beyond whether they can allow him – or not – to enter the country. “I can’t go back, especially since Cuba is a country without laws. they make anything out of you“, explain.
“Look at Maikel Osorbo, 9 years old for singing “Patria y vida”. Look at Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, 5 years old for allegedly desecrating national symbols. Look at Ferrer, who is still missing, and they do not confirm his life,” Yothuel says. “The law does not matter, only the party matters”.
The artist also refers to what happened at the trials of the 11J protesters, which took place without any guarantees for the defendants. “Imagine if you are on trial, and the prosecutor is a party, your defender is a party … Everything is absurd,” he exclaims. “For the words of the homeland and life are put in prison. But to say homeland or death – no.
explain the inexplicable
Yotuel is the father of three children who naturally ask questions about their father’s country. Finding the best answer is not an easy task. “It’s difficult because there’s a piece that even if you want to tell them, they won’t understand,” he says. “Dad, why can’t you come back? Why doesn’t the government love you? What is a dictatorship? If I was born in Cuba, would you be in jail? Why don’t Cuban children have toys? That’s what they ask me.”
But perhaps the most difficult thing to answer is why he cannot return to his country. The answer is not definitive and this provokes a new question. Among adults it is easier to understand his explanation: “If they let me in, it’ll set up a case for me. or condemnation of those pompous they do.” “They blamed me for everything in Cuba, I don’t know who else is going to blame me. Musical terrorism was the last“, Add.
Nothing else to look at hundreds of 11J protesters fill prisons islands. “Young prisoners in Cuba with sentences up to 30 years simply for the fact that they freely went out into the street to express their displeasure,” Yotuel recalls. Many of them are “juveniles who have received much harsher sentences than the people who committed the murders.”
the fight goes on
Regardless, you need to move on. This is the message Yotuel wants to convey to the Cubans. “While you have a plan, God has his. You have to keep visualizing, you have to keep fighting. Nobody said it was easy,” he emphasizes. “The most beautiful thing is that we now have a motto to fight for“.
Creators “Homeland and Life” – including Yothuel – gave this gift to their people. They directed popular feeling to a theme that is the song of freedom and has become the anthem in which all those who struggle to achieve it find themselves.
The greatest proof of its power is that the regime has done and is doing everything possible to censor it, the song and its creators (some of them are imprisoned). As Yothuel says:When the devil attacks you, it is because what you are doing is well done. and it hurts.”