Cuban exiles in the United States have accused Colombian rocker Juanes of
being an accomplice of the communist Castro regime in their homeland
after the rocker announced a concert in Havana.
Several Cuban organizations in the U.S. said it was “immoral” of the artist to ignore the situation of the Cuban people. Some threaten to boycott Juanes when the Colombian comes to Miami.
According to Ninoska Perez, executive of the Council for the Freedom of Cuba, Cubans in their homeland need democracy and solidarity; not a concert that ignores the “oppression” they have been subjected to for 50 years.
“Apolitical concerts do not exist. Indolence is the worst of evils, because if you don’t take position against a dictatorship, a criminal regime, you become complicit,” the Cuban activist said.
According to Juanes’ management, the concerts do not endorse or favor any government. “This is an event of peace, of harmony, of relations. It’s a white concert for the civil society of Cuba,” Juanes’ spokesman Fernan Martinez said.