September 8, 2021 • 47 mins
July 11th – Que Paso? What motivated Cubans to take to the streets, protest in several cities against the government and demand “libertad” (liberty) and why now? Enrique Santos and José Díaz-Balart dive deep into the events of that history day and what freedom means to Cubans, knowing it could cost them everything.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On July eleventh, two thousand twenty one, a loud call
for freedom was heard on the streets of communists world Cuba.
Fed up with sixty two years of NADA, nothing but
Castro communism, oppression and scarcity. What does the future hold
for the people, long robbed of any opportunities? How did
(00:21):
we get here, what we learned? And can we finally
be free? As oos Cuba is a weekly six episode
series hosted by me and Riquez Antos and Telemundo and
NBC journalist Jose Diaz Balart. We invite you to join
us our guests, social influencers, artists and journalists from the
island as well as the global exile community, as we
(00:43):
dive deep into the history that shaped us and talk
patria vida and human rights in Cuba. Talking about July
eleventh holds a youth covered and covered constantly um international
events and and uprisings and countries. What surprised you the
most of what happened July eleven in Cuba as a
(01:06):
Cuban American? The extraordinary nature of it. You know, we
see people taking to the streets and asking uh for freedom,
and you know, if you are someone who doesn't pay
a lot of attention to what's been going on in Cuba,
you would think, well, that's similar to what we're seeing
in other places. I mean, there are people taking to
the streets in the United States, uh, for just causes
(01:28):
all the time. But it's the extraordinary nature of the
fact that these people went to the streets asking for freedom,
almost in one voice, in Unison, knowing that that simple
act could very well cost them up to their life,
(01:50):
because in Cuba, the act of speaking against the government
can carry all kinds of penalties. Could lose your home,
you probably will lose if you have a job, your job,
your family will lose everything to prison or worse. And
(02:12):
yet there they were in Unison asking for one thing freedom.
It was such an unusual moment in a world where
those kinds of things were used to seeing. Right, That's
what I think was was surprisingly just how unique that was.
Is that sentiment? Is that movement fad fading out or
(02:34):
is it just getting started? I think that in Cuba
it's it's continuing, and it's continuing on a daily basis.
I mean, we have, you know, reporters in Cuba, independent
reporters who are in house arrest essentially UH loose who
we were very much admire as children can't leave her
(02:56):
apartment and there's a state security officer down there not
letting her out. Uh. You know there are people today
suffering because of their desire to speak. How much more
does that make you appreciate what you do in this
great country, that you're able to report and say what
you feel and UM, in both English and in Spanish,
(03:16):
you're you're you're one of the leading, if not one
of the, if not the most important and recognizable UH
face and voice, not only in English but in Spanish
media when it comes to UH news and most respected.
I'd say about it to get Amago, you're a very
dear friend. UM. When you see that that you see
a journalist, it does what it tries to do what
you do freely here in this country, and it has
(03:38):
a you know, waiting for her, trying to tell her
you don't want to go outside. There's COVID outside, you
better go back upstairs. This intimidation, this control, it's it's
the it's another reaffirmation of how privileged we are to
be able to live in a country that, with all
of the problems it may have, UH give us the
(04:00):
opportunity to fulfill our dreams and to h search for
our aspirations on our own terms. Think, you know you,
you couldn't do what you do, uh there and you
couldn't express yourself, You couldn't live. You and I nobody
could live our lives inside that country. It's an amazing
(04:25):
thing to think about. It. It's not just that you
have different opinions, it's that we couldn't live our lives
inside that country. And yet there are eleven million people
who are forced to live lives created by a cupola
in power. It tells them how to think, how to act,
(04:45):
when to eat, what to eat, when to go to
get some kind of health Uh, there is no health
system that is working. So every aspect of their lives
is told to them by a group in power that
has no relationship with the people. And it's really amazing
(05:09):
to think about that reality is happening ninety miles away
from the United States, and yet we share that blood
people that we're from and are from that island. But
they're not able to live anyway their lives. And that's
a really remarkable thought in two thousand that there are
(05:33):
people today that cannot have dreams, aspirations, hopes for the future.
They're just not allowed to have it. It's kind of
a weird thing to think about. And I'm very every day,
very grateful to be able to fight for my dreams
(05:53):
and aspirations. Right, just like you, he's a hard separating
or controlling the your passion and your thoughts when you're
when you're reporting on issues like this. Look, I've always personally, yeah,
I've always been aware of the fact that in journalism,
(06:14):
I am a taking I'm doing a service. It's not
about me. It's not about what I think or don't think. Uh,
that's for a conversation with friends. But my responsibility is
to serve through journalism. Journalism you do have to search
(06:34):
for the truth, and that truth includes maybe uncomfortable things
for some people. Uh So I've always been clear that
my role as a journalist is to search for the truth.
And so I don't see any contradiction ever anything in
my life regarding what I have to do. Not to
(06:57):
go off topic, but is it difficult as a journalists? Uh?
In times where everyone creates their own truth or believes
what they want to believe, journalism has never been more important.
I think that it's never been more important for a society,
and and without free press, there can be no free country.
(07:21):
H And so it frustrates me yess that the preponderance
of invented things that can be sometimes seen as being
truth by some people, UH is a battle that we
as journalists have to fight forwards. We have to constantly
(07:44):
be aware of the fact that there are a lot
of different sources of misinformation that are constantly being put
out there. And never, never has that been more of
a problem, I think than than nowadays. What do you think.
I think it's sad as a not just in our
country but globally that people. Yeah, you grew up as
(08:06):
a kid, respecting your elders, respecting UH doctors, respecting science,
and then to have people I think there's the wrong
with questioning things. You you go to doctor, you get
a second opinion on something. But I never heard of
the first time in my lifetime that I've I see
people you're telling me I have to take this pill
because this pill is gonna make me better. I'm not
(08:28):
gonna take this pill. This pill is not gonna make
me better, you know more than a doctor does. Yeah, Yeah,
that's you know, Unfortunately, it's been a reality of of
since mankind existed. I mean, there were snake oil salesman
throughout history, and you know, you can go to excavations
in ancient Egypt to find, you know, pots of old
(08:52):
medicine that we're nothing more than olive oil with a
few seeds of something in there. Right, But it makes
sense in ancient times, I think it's acceptable. But in
the current because the world is different. Information that we have,
because the information is so really accessible to us, and
the real from end research and proven history proves and
(09:13):
science can prove or disprove something. But the fact that
people refuse to accept that rus and create their own reality,
it just boggles my mind. That's a that's a great
conversation to have because that's another podcast, No, and it's
but it's but yet it's one of the real major
issues that we as a society wherever we are are confronting.
(09:33):
Less in Cuba, because in Cuba, only one person, one entity,
controls everything. There's only one story being told and it's
not the truth. Sadly, well, the truth is decades of
repression and total control and manipulation. Cubans can't take it anymore.
(09:53):
Cuban artists. Michael Osortable told me a couple of months
before the July eleventh uprising that he was ready to
die for his freedom, and ironically he has since been
jailed and is currently one of Cuba's political prisoners. It
can't be real, but I need the time, yes and menial,
(10:16):
lest they see that one of the time to bata
toil and brigue at Manuel eyes lamente qu momental dampt
(10:42):
like yeah, bast no no, no, yellow no, said yellow patriot.
All right, let's welcome to of the leading voices, Cuban
(11:04):
American voices that here in the United States have helped
organize Jose Voices on the East Coast and the West Coast.
They're Cuban American brothers. I respect them a lot. Their
true friends Jason and j join us today, gentlemen. How
are you. We're doing great, brother, We're doing great. Thank
you for having us. We we really appreciate it. I
liked the older brother always speaks first. That's important, you know,
it's seniority. I have to, uh, I gotta give it
(11:27):
up to him. I mean, I gave him two seconds,
I gave him a second step in so I said,
let me. You know, let me step up. Let's start
with jo alone. The Julio eleventh of July. Why was that?
Why was that date important to you? And what what changed?
Because you me, your brother uh Jose has been doing
a lot, a lot, all of us that love and
(11:48):
enjoy and respect liberty and democracy have been doing a
lot for our brothers and sisters uh In in the island.
What did July eleventh mean to you? Well, said Um,
July eleventh, to me represents, uh, the beginning of the
end of an era, of a brutal era that has
(12:12):
lasted way too long. I think that it was always
within the Cuban community. There was always a a a divisiveness,
you know, between the Miami Cubans and the Cubans on
the island. You know, I grew up uh listening to that,
and I think that what July Levin did was it
unified US Cubans in Miami, Cubans on the island. Uh.
(12:35):
It made the message more clear than ever. You know,
in sixty two years, we hadn't seen those types of
manifestations coming from the island, coming from the people that
were doctrines by this regime, coming by the people, coming
from the people that UM that it was always it
was always there was always a doubt of how much
of Cuba actually wants to change, you know, UM. And
(12:59):
we saw in July of it that the majority of
Cubans they've had enough, They've had enough. They can't take
they can't take it anymore. They can't take the abuse anymore,
they can't take the oppressions anymore, they can't take the
brutality anymore. And and they they they literally cannot breathe
with the knee of this dictatorship on their necks. And
(13:20):
and they set enough is enough. They took to the streets.
They did not ask for vaccines, they did not ask
for food, they did not ask for water. They asked
for a systematic change. And I think that we saw
in July eleven was the beginning of of many more
manifestations to come. The way the regime handled those manifestations,
as they've historically done, UM fractured the little relationship that
(13:42):
was left between the Cuban people and and the and
the Castro regime. Gen Carlos has been on the East
coast organizing a lot of the demonstrations that we've seen
a lot of the marches as well, and your brother
Jason is on the West Coast and Los Angeles doing
the very same for the people of Cuba. What did
this What has this movement mean to you? This historic
day in Cuba, Jason brother? I mean, it's gonna be
(14:06):
a lot of what my brother just said. Um, But
to not repeat the same thing, which is exactly how
I feel, I'll just add that you know this, obviously,
July eleventh is a is a monumental day for our people,
considering that you know, they they finally said enough, they
finally came out. Um. But it's important to understand obviously
(14:29):
we understand, but it's important that the people who don't
know much about what's happening or what has been happening
understand that this is something that has been going on
for sixty plus years. Um. You know, July eleven was
just the pot boiling over. Our parents, are grandparents, our generation.
This is three generations that have been robbed at their freedom.
(14:50):
Are my grandparents died dreaming of a free Cuba? Uh?
You know, Giancarlos, my my sister, and nett Eric myself.
We grew up you know, being told the stories the
same way that I'm sure you guys and many people
hearing this grew up, you know, hearing the stories of
what our parents went through, what our grandparents went through,
and you know, for me, I was always I always
(15:12):
felt so proud to be Cuban, but I never really
understood the you know, the root of it all until
July eleven, when I when I saw those images come
out the island and I saw the oppression like firsthand,
like really seeing the faces of the Cuban people, you know,
as they marched with with with the courage of you know,
(15:34):
looking down the barrel of a gun and screaming Patria
da and knowing what consequences like, I think that was
the first time in twenty nine years of my life
that I truly was able to put faces to the
stories that my grandparents told me, that my parents told me,
because up until July eleven, all I ever was able
to use was my imagination. And man, seeing those images
(15:57):
and seeing the kids, seeing the know the the aggression
that the regime has leashed unleashed on its people. Uh man,
it's it's really struck me in a way to where
there's absolutely no way that I could just stay put.
I have to use my voice. I have to, you know,
do whatever I can. And thankfully so many young people
(16:19):
have come together Cubans uh Um, Venezuelans, Nikara Winds uh
and a lot of first generation, which has you know,
it fills me up with so much freaking happiness to
see that my generation is actually understanding the importance of
this and that we're coming together and that we're trying
to spread awareness. Um. You know, I think the regime never,
(16:40):
never in a million years envisioned the kids of the
exiles feeling that same burning passion for for Cuba to
come out on the streets and and to speak up
all around the world. And and I think that, you know,
July eleven was a big victory for the Cuban people,
uh considering uh, you know what it means, what it started,
and this is going to be along sight and we're
(17:02):
committed to to go in to battle for as long
as we have to. You just you described it well.
Because as Cuban Americans, I think we all feel the same.
It's kind of like we feel respect for our grandparents,
right and and for all the exile Cuban community that
hasn't been able to see a free Cuba. That you know,
we have our grandparents that are now unfortunately dying without
having to being able to to to return that our
(17:24):
parents like in Jose's in your case, Jose has has passed, right,
so we kind of feel like a it's a great
sense of responsibility. It's it's our turn to step up
to the plate. And that's the the unique part of
this in so many things. Uh. And also that Julio
changed things, change things inside Cuba. But I think it
also looking at these two brothers change a lot of
(17:46):
people outside of Cuban. I wanted to kind of get
a gauge from from both of you. Something that that
Jason you talked about about You didn't really understand in
your pores what your parents and grandparents talked so much
about until you saw it the past eleventh of July.
(18:10):
And what is it about that eleventh of July? But
you know what, it's also as as as as when
we grow up as kids, we always hear our parents
and Cuba this used to happen this way and that,
so it's kind of and then you're kind of like,
you gotta so what is it? What is the problem?
I want to I want to say something I want
to say something really quick, like and Jen, Jen is
(18:32):
gonna understand this because we're I'm talking about our parents here.
You know, our family has been through a lot, you know,
over the years, the same as any family, I think,
and and we've always had the utmost respect and admiration
for both my father and my mother, you know, seeing
the struggle, uh, seeing everything that they've gone through, you know,
(18:55):
losing two kids, um, and just you know, are coming
the obstacles that life has always thrown at them, the
way that life throws obstacles at us. Um. But for me,
like these last couple of weeks, you know, just really
understanding the way that they've had to carry on their
shoulders these last fifty plus years, having left you know,
(19:19):
their home. Uh. You know again you said it. I
never really understood in my pores the pain and the
trauma that they have lived with all these years. You know.
My mom, My mom left as an eleven year old
girl and her parents told her, don't unpack, you know,
we're coming back. At the end of the month. That
(19:41):
month went by, I was like, Hey, don't unpack, don't unpack,
just use whatever you gotta use, but we're going back.
It's been fifty plus years. They never went back. My
grandfather died, my grandmother died, my mom. My mom did
everything she could to stay in contact with her family
and help them over the years. And I had to
see my mom more the loss of her uncle and
her cousin, you know, within ten days of each other,
(20:02):
this last two weeks from COVID because they couldn't get
access to an oxygen tank. And to see my mom
that devastated because she couldn't do anything, you know, Like
it shows you the real, the real like atrocity that
this this regime will be held accountable for so many things,
for the for the murders, for the political prisoners, for everything.
But the one thing that I believe is at the
(20:25):
top of the list, considering at least where my value stands. Uh,
nothing in this world is more important to me than family,
than unity. And this regime has separated I mean, I
can't put a number on it, but the separation of family,
you know, to me is one of the most horrendous
things that anybody could do. And when you talk about
the amount of families that have been literally destroyed because
(20:49):
of this regime, it's there's no word to describe that pain.
And and we're seeing it. We're seeing I mean, I
just cannot imagine being separated from my family for fifty
plus years. I don't, I don't understand for me, and
I'll be able to see my brother or my sister,
my parents, Like I just why, I don't even know.
I really do not know. How, Um, you have to also,
(21:12):
we have to also, we have to also take into consideration, Jose,
based on what you said, you know, talking about why what? Why?
Why is the first generation Cubans? Why our first generation Cubes?
Why don't we feel this way? Look, I remember growing
up as a young artist, you know, Um, being growing
up in a Cuban family, which, by the way, I
believe that we come into this world with a purpose.
(21:34):
I believe that we're born within a Cuban family for
a reason, or within a Mexican family for a reason.
I believe we come with purpose. And I proud take
on that purpose and responsibility of being the son of
Cuban immigrants. You know, everyone has a different story. This
is our story, this is our duty, you know, and
(21:55):
I believe that you know, as first generation Cubans, I
grew up, see my my friends from Columbia when they
were little, saying, Oh, I'm gonna go this summer with
my parents to their home count to to Columbia, or
I'm gonna go to Mexico. I'm gonna go here, I'm
gonna go there. I was never able to do that.
We were never able to do that. We were never
(22:15):
able to to go vacation in the homeland where it
all started, in the blood that runs through our veins.
And it's like they instill such a huge love in
us as Cuban Americans for our roots. It's like introducing
you to the love of your life and then telling
you that you could never meet her and you may
(22:35):
never be able to you know. And and it's a
big void that we grow up with. And I think
that those images that we saw on July eleventh there
reminded us of of the frustration um that of of
seeing how look in Puerto Rico and the manifestations happened to,
you know, to to to throw out the governor that
(22:58):
was there at the time. They were able to man
of Festal. There was there was no police beating them
on the streets, and a month later he was out.
Because that's what a democracy looks like, you know, that's
what a system that actually is there for the people
and by the people looks like to see these images
and too and to feel that no matter how much
we do, you know, we can't be there for them.
(23:21):
We can't just get on the plane and go because
what's the strategy there? How is that going to make
a difference. It's very frustrating, it's very painful, you know.
But let me tell you this, and let me just
add to that. We can't stop. We can't stop. We
can't let that be a crutch. We can't let that
be the reason why we give up. Because social media
(23:41):
has become a huge ally for us. I believe that
July Levin what it did is it unveiled a truth
about this system to not just us as Cuban as
that we're already exposed to this truth, but to the
world a lot of people. We we've seen the the
the romantic, you know, fictitious, a story that that through propaganda,
(24:02):
this regime has sped to the whole world. And like
you said, in Los Angeles or in Europe, you see
people will check it out of shirts and they just
don't understand the whole truth. So for me July eleventh,
what it did and along with the tool of social media,
along with all of our voices collectively caring about this
(24:23):
caring about democracy UM, it unveiled the truth about this
regime to a lot of people that were living a
complete lie when it comes to to to the reality
in Cuba. We are very proud of our next guests.
She is actually the first tenure Latino professor at upen's
(24:43):
Graduate School of Education and Ivy School at that Dr Amalia,
thank you for being here with us today. Thank you
for having me. It's it's it's a pleasure and an
honor to to be on this on this show. It's
such an important topic. Dr Well, July eleventh. In Cuba,
a move movement or or a moment, it is a
movement for sure, and I studied movements. I've studied movements
(25:07):
since two thousand and fourteen when we had the Ferguson
uprising in two thousand and fourteen because of police violence
and very similar to what's happening UM in Cuba now.
When you think about the repression and the history of
repression when it comes to the police state towards Cuban people,
there is a racial dynamic. And so that's something I'm
(25:27):
very familiar with when it comes to two movements um
happening around the world, but but again more in particular
too to the US and and of course now in Kua,
and we've been shut off from the world, you know,
Joseay and I've been talking about this, uh doctor for
such a long time, and it's so frustrating to to
see so many of our of our actors and actresses
(25:48):
and musicians and poets that never internationalized because of this
dictatorship that we are just now, you know, within the
past several years, getting to know more of thanks to
social media, right, thanks to the you know, the internet
finally coming think without But this is very real, and
(26:19):
there's a lot of pain, and it's very deep, and
it's very real, and it's so sad, and it's and
this and this pain in this history again thinking about
a post you know, dictatorship, all of this is going
to be a part of the new the newe right,
this is this is what's going to shape, this is
what's going to make it an organic, in organic process
that again we can learn from these other models South
(26:41):
Africa post Soviet context, but we also have our own autonomy. Right,
that's coming out of even right now. Right, we're making
history right now. This is gonna shape the history of Kua.
You know, Jay Levin Is is a movement. It's a
movement that's happening, and it's in it's an organic process
that's gonna shape, you know, the new democracy, the new
(27:01):
democracy that emerges um from the work that we're doing
in the diaspora, from the international commitments. I mean, we
haven't even talked about, you know how silence. You know
the rest of the world is when it comes to
Buba's for our supporting Guba and putting pressure on at
Banya and putting pressure on Italy and putting pressure on
pressure on those who actually do business in Goula without
(27:24):
thinking about the human rights abuses and the repression that
is happening to the Cuban population. Like, how are we
gonna hold these these governments in these countries accountable? And
how do we get international support? I mean, I think
this is one way, right, like awareness, continual continual media attention,
especially those of us who you know, our positions where
(27:44):
we have a you know, carry a lot of weight
because of our institutions, but you know, there's there's got
to be political political accountability as well. There's so much, uh,
you really scratch your head, you think, why should we
have to It's like pull teeth to you know, to
try to just just to get people to just to
open up there not even their eyes, their hearts to
(28:06):
something that's happening. It's a real time genocide happening on
on our on our and it's it's up to us
right to step up to the plate. And you would
think that these kind of things like kond that I'm
out that way, like we say, Cubans say, right, this
is just as as just human good people, just good
human beings saying about these people are hurting. Let me
raise my voice. Like jose and I were talking a
(28:26):
little while ago as well. There's certain things that you
can be quiet and silent upon and it's okay, unacceptable.
This is not one of those moments. This is not
one of those things that it's is acceptable for anyone
to to to stay mute on. If we care, if
we care, if we care about human rights, if we
care about civil rights, then this should not be an issue.
We should be Salentine doctor. Always remembering Sulten wrote the
(28:48):
Goolag Archipelago. Well, Cuba has been living as a gulag
archipelago for sixty two years, and it's only when the
Sultans of the world published outside that gulag that things
can at least start to change in at least some
world solidarity. Absolutely. Absolutely, Again, the writing, the art, the
(29:13):
music announced I'm thinking about there was a there was
an order that Luis Manuel did in April two thousand
twenty one. Do you remember it was when he did
the It was the one where he he actually had
a mechanism that was used for oppression during the colonial period.
It was called think about that. There's there's a racial
(29:39):
dynamic too for that, right, the fact that he uses
got used it, positioned themselves inside of it, put himself
inside of his home and said for the police to come,
if you're going to lynch me, then I've given you
the tools to do that. Right. But this this tool,
this got ho they deal was actually used during the
colonial period in for the a clouds. And so again
(30:01):
you have the artists, the artists are using their voice
to talk about these these these these these social racial
processes that are so intertwined in google under the political
repression that we have to hear their voices, and yes,
these are they're the ones that are documenting what's happening.
Is least us in the journalists and those who are
(30:23):
using it the pen as as a weapon, almost right,
using art as a weapon, using the pen as a weapon.
And exactly this is being published and the youth of
putting it out and the people are putting it out,
and it's a very again, it's a very organic and
intertmined process between social actors. Thank you for your time.
You know, they're saying, we always say, you know what
(30:45):
is it being the smartest person in the room. Uh.
We are honored with your presence and with Jose's as well,
and I feel like the dumbest person in the dr.
I also have to to thank you because you know what, uh,
there are so many layers in the Cuban reality. There
(31:06):
are so many uh under the skin layers of Cuban
reality that has to be exposed. And and thank you
for for your voice, thank you for your knowledge, thank
you for sharing it with us. It I think that
all of us, at least I know speaking for I
(31:27):
think here we've learned a lot and that's the best
gift that you could give, and you've given it well.
Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate all
of the conversations that we've had today related to these topics,
and I wanted to end on this note. I want
to think about my father. My father was one of
the first political prisoners in Cuba that that used the
tool of challenging the regime through through you know, through
(31:51):
driving a bus into the American embassy UM and being
imprisoned for that. In so I think about the history
of my father resistance and how use protests UM to
challenge the regime in nive and seeing that being present
in the eighties and the nineties and now through social
media and through you know, Kuwanas being on the street,
(32:11):
I think that you know, I owe that to to
to the legacy of all of the Kuwanos that you
know that have been you know, imprisoned and also have
been you know detained. So I just wanted to shout
out my own family legacy UM in this struggle. Thank
you very much, DR. I think that's what we're all
trying to do, right, continue the legacy of our parents,
of our grandparents. UM. God bless your your your father
(32:36):
rest his soul. Yes, thank you. Let's talk to one
of Cuba's biggest artists. He's one of the very few
Cuban artists that have been able to take his music,
his talents and internationalizing. Look I hate you, look at
(32:59):
and bullge a the who no one Tom Yeah, come
on one exact free home you are to sport being
(33:34):
mention arcal hashtag s o s qant lianas hip hop
(33:58):
can sob you hip hopano call out, nucular caring contralto
(34:19):
guando uban very yankee bal being. I can't help soona
um too. Look, oh you know what what that was?
A bambo or que I can dentific I get consent, Yes,
(34:47):
yo concent okay, presented at the familiar amigo yatrivia wow
(35:39):
oo O two o yo proma all to you to
inclusio mirsaya padria to yo to consus sexual ilamia to
lamia to yo to inferencia em diferencia, das la provo
(36:04):
dia patrevia era la necessaria, parag look es patria plan
(36:28):
patrivida the patriviao alright, listen to the Cuban exile community.
(36:50):
Carmo Willie will He's so much more than that. He's
a Cuban, simple as facilmente. This man is a Cuban
American musician performer who arrived in the United States through
the famed Peter Pan flights that brought so many of
(37:12):
Cuba's youth escaping military inscription and indoctrination at the beginning
of the Castro Revolution. Wely cheating on never ever ever
forgets his country or his home and which he's evoked
in all of his songs. Almost every single one of
Willie Tino's songs he mentions his beautiful homeland, Ah throughout
(37:37):
his beautiful career sixty two years of exile here in
the United States. After July eleven, I remember we cheating
on doing a live on Instagram that touched my heart
and I think about it and I still still be
sentimental because sorry, really do they hate Algum William And
(38:02):
I'll never forget And to total the other cheating, the
mainta Willie's voice continuously bounces in my head after his
life that he did on Instagram. When Willie said, I've
been saying this for sixty two years, I've been screaming
this through my music. Yeah. Uh, and every one of
my songs wherever, in every single stage that I stand on,
I I I fight for it, for Cuba and and
(38:25):
and his and his people. And Willie said, and I'm
asking God, David, who are really cheating the momentary? And
That's what I've been asking myself every single day. What
role do I need to pay? Pay play as a
Cuban American? UM So grateful that this country opens his
arms to my parents and too my and to my grandparents.
(38:47):
So really, thank you for everything that you do. Thank
you for those beautiful words. Thank you for being here
with Jose and I in this project s OS Cuba,
this podcast where we're hoping to shed some light on
the Cuban tragedy and hoping that you know the voices
like yours don't don't go mu, don't go silence. I
thank you and I respect you so much. Really, thank
you for being here. I am very happy to be
(39:08):
here with you two good friends for a long time,
which I respect and I admired. And I thank you
also for being part of this and helping keep the
flame alive that started in Cuba. We must, as I
have said before, do whatever it is that we can
(39:31):
to keep those uh that flame alive. I quote Hosea
Tea quite quite a bit because to me, he's an
inspiration in every aspect of my life. And who once said,
I'll say it in Spanish, I'll try and try to
translate it later. He said to Aliment that and that
(40:02):
they say referring to a lot of people that say that,
you know, you can't mingle politics and music and arts
and stuff like that, and it's just the opposite. When
you're dealing with freedom, with liberty like we have been
for sixty two and a half years, you know, you
always fall back to I at least to fall back
(40:25):
to those words would say at the lad when we're
dealing with freedom, everything to claimed the fire, even the arts.
So that's what I'm doing. I'm trying through my music.
I've been doing it for a long time, but especially
now that you know, the keeping people finally decided to
(40:53):
to wake up and have the you know, the audacity
to go to the street and fight for their freedom.
We must be here on this side, outside hive and
trying to help whatever it means that we can to
get the message across, to get those images seen by
(41:16):
millions of people around the world so they can actually
crasp you know, the sad situation that the Cubans have
been leaving for so lot. Does it surprise you, WILLI
that this new movement and awakening in Cuba was started
not by politicians, not by radio broadcasters, or it was
started by Puello, started by musicians such as yourself, and
(41:38):
through the power of social media with the hashtag s
s Cuba pat he started by h And so you
see the see those artist musicians are plastic painters, writers
(41:59):
and all of these bullets. And that's what it is.
We must, you know, use our tools against and yes,
I said, which is very important to us. Wait, well
(42:19):
they'll do, Yeah, I must. You know, it's important to
to kind of underline that Willie is the creator of
the Miami music sound. You know, he is. He is it.
And and we why is it that you focused always
(42:41):
on issues such as Cuba freedom and the need for
people to live free when you're starting a career that well,
those kinds of issues weren't really talked about, right, They
weren't popular, not not not a cool, not cool to
sing about at that moment. Let's be honestly, because not cool.
(43:03):
I totally agree, and it has affected me a lot
throughout the years. But the latter compensa for what I've done.
You know, I'll change every problem that has come across
because of that, Joe, the posite of grand grand Maoria,
(43:31):
the poil of one when I see the real no
con la course of wins. They even presuming tom is
unique plas contado no can be insta, but I mean
(44:05):
made totally, I mean totally make sure that it was
the was a center has the same time tho they
said the center you know, okay, okay, the part you
(44:31):
nikos membrat any music presenters, the quality of course socially
(44:55):
MBA for your parents. R woman's I had the land
basicleman on the universes, Well call Casio okay, no Paris apprecious,
(45:27):
impress you. Yeah, one of these academy who banquet where
fourteen thousand, fourteen thousand Cubans children left the island with
ours without some some of the stories of Peter Bran
(45:50):
and not ye very good. So some of them are
sort of trashed tragic because then couldn't back to their parents.
My situation, who was one of the better ones I
was lacking, but uh, you know, living in freedom is
(46:10):
the is the most you can see it every day,
you know, thousands of people trying to get into this
country and that believe in because of the freedoms that
we enjoy. This is a blessing. So I every day
(46:30):
in my life when I wake up, I thank the Lord.
Every night before I go to bed, I thank the
Lord for living in this country that you know, sixty
years ago open the doors for me and allowed me
to achieve the American dream. That's such a nice. On
(46:54):
the next s O s Cuba, we'll talk about Cuban
now and what life is really like on the island today.
M s O s Cuba is produced by Ntque Santos,
Risa Varona, Ullo Ramirez, Harold Valenzuela, DJ extreme Ulver, Matteo Rosiaca,
thro Antelemundo in partnership with I Heart Radios MI Coultura
podcast Network. For more podcasts from I Heart, visit the
(47:17):
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Yea
On July eleventh, two thousand twenty one, a loud call
for freedom was heard on the streets of communists world Cuba.
Fed up with sixty two years of NADA, nothing but
Castro communism, oppression and scarcity. What does the future hold
for the people, long robbed of any opportunities? How did
(00:21):
we get here, what we learned? And can we finally
be free? As oos Cuba is a weekly six episode
series hosted by me and Riquez Antos and Telemundo and
NBC journalist Jose Diaz Balart. We invite you to join
us our guests, social influencers, artists and journalists from the
island as well as the global exile community, as we
(00:43):
dive deep into the history that shaped us and talk
patria vida and human rights in Cuba. Talking about July
eleventh holds a youth covered and covered constantly um international
events and and uprisings and countries. What surprised you the
most of what happened July eleven in Cuba as a
(01:06):
Cuban American? The extraordinary nature of it. You know, we
see people taking to the streets and asking uh for freedom,
and you know, if you are someone who doesn't pay
a lot of attention to what's been going on in Cuba,
you would think, well, that's similar to what we're seeing
in other places. I mean, there are people taking to
the streets in the United States, uh, for just causes
(01:28):
all the time. But it's the extraordinary nature of the
fact that these people went to the streets asking for freedom,
almost in one voice, in Unison, knowing that that simple
act could very well cost them up to their life,
(01:50):
because in Cuba, the act of speaking against the government
can carry all kinds of penalties. Could lose your home,
you probably will lose if you have a job, your job,
your family will lose everything to prison or worse. And
(02:12):
yet there they were in Unison asking for one thing freedom.
It was such an unusual moment in a world where
those kinds of things were used to seeing. Right, That's
what I think was was surprisingly just how unique that was.
Is that sentiment? Is that movement fad fading out or
(02:34):
is it just getting started? I think that in Cuba
it's it's continuing, and it's continuing on a daily basis.
I mean, we have, you know, reporters in Cuba, independent
reporters who are in house arrest essentially UH loose who
we were very much admire as children can't leave her
(02:56):
apartment and there's a state security officer down there not
letting her out. Uh. You know there are people today
suffering because of their desire to speak. How much more
does that make you appreciate what you do in this
great country, that you're able to report and say what
you feel and UM, in both English and in Spanish,
(03:16):
you're you're you're one of the leading, if not one
of the, if not the most important and recognizable UH
face and voice, not only in English but in Spanish
media when it comes to UH news and most respected.
I'd say about it to get Amago, you're a very
dear friend. UM. When you see that that you see
a journalist, it does what it tries to do what
you do freely here in this country, and it has
(03:38):
a you know, waiting for her, trying to tell her
you don't want to go outside. There's COVID outside, you
better go back upstairs. This intimidation, this control, it's it's
the it's another reaffirmation of how privileged we are to
be able to live in a country that, with all
of the problems it may have, UH give us the
(04:00):
opportunity to fulfill our dreams and to h search for
our aspirations on our own terms. Think, you know you,
you couldn't do what you do, uh there and you
couldn't express yourself, You couldn't live. You and I nobody
could live our lives inside that country. It's an amazing
(04:25):
thing to think about. It. It's not just that you
have different opinions, it's that we couldn't live our lives
inside that country. And yet there are eleven million people
who are forced to live lives created by a cupola
in power. It tells them how to think, how to act,
(04:45):
when to eat, what to eat, when to go to
get some kind of health Uh, there is no health
system that is working. So every aspect of their lives
is told to them by a group in power that
has no relationship with the people. And it's really amazing
(05:09):
to think about that reality is happening ninety miles away
from the United States, and yet we share that blood
people that we're from and are from that island. But
they're not able to live anyway their lives. And that's
a really remarkable thought in two thousand that there are
(05:33):
people today that cannot have dreams, aspirations, hopes for the future.
They're just not allowed to have it. It's kind of
a weird thing to think about. And I'm very every day,
very grateful to be able to fight for my dreams
(05:53):
and aspirations. Right, just like you, he's a hard separating
or controlling the your passion and your thoughts when you're
when you're reporting on issues like this. Look, I've always personally, yeah,
I've always been aware of the fact that in journalism,
(06:14):
I am a taking I'm doing a service. It's not
about me. It's not about what I think or don't think. Uh,
that's for a conversation with friends. But my responsibility is
to serve through journalism. Journalism you do have to search
(06:34):
for the truth, and that truth includes maybe uncomfortable things
for some people. Uh So I've always been clear that
my role as a journalist is to search for the truth.
And so I don't see any contradiction ever anything in
my life regarding what I have to do. Not to
(06:57):
go off topic, but is it difficult as a journalists? Uh?
In times where everyone creates their own truth or believes
what they want to believe, journalism has never been more important.
I think that it's never been more important for a society,
and and without free press, there can be no free country.
(07:21):
H And so it frustrates me yess that the preponderance
of invented things that can be sometimes seen as being
truth by some people, UH is a battle that we
as journalists have to fight forwards. We have to constantly
(07:44):
be aware of the fact that there are a lot
of different sources of misinformation that are constantly being put
out there. And never, never has that been more of
a problem, I think than than nowadays. What do you think.
I think it's sad as a not just in our
country but globally that people. Yeah, you grew up as
(08:06):
a kid, respecting your elders, respecting UH doctors, respecting science,
and then to have people I think there's the wrong
with questioning things. You you go to doctor, you get
a second opinion on something. But I never heard of
the first time in my lifetime that I've I see
people you're telling me I have to take this pill
because this pill is gonna make me better. I'm not
(08:28):
gonna take this pill. This pill is not gonna make
me better, you know more than a doctor does. Yeah, Yeah,
that's you know, Unfortunately, it's been a reality of of
since mankind existed. I mean, there were snake oil salesman
throughout history, and you know, you can go to excavations
in ancient Egypt to find, you know, pots of old
(08:52):
medicine that we're nothing more than olive oil with a
few seeds of something in there. Right, But it makes
sense in ancient times, I think it's acceptable. But in
the current because the world is different. Information that we have,
because the information is so really accessible to us, and
the real from end research and proven history proves and
(09:13):
science can prove or disprove something. But the fact that
people refuse to accept that rus and create their own reality,
it just boggles my mind. That's a that's a great
conversation to have because that's another podcast, No, and it's
but it's but yet it's one of the real major
issues that we as a society wherever we are are confronting.
(09:33):
Less in Cuba, because in Cuba, only one person, one entity,
controls everything. There's only one story being told and it's
not the truth. Sadly, well, the truth is decades of
repression and total control and manipulation. Cubans can't take it anymore.
(09:53):
Cuban artists. Michael Osortable told me a couple of months
before the July eleventh uprising that he was ready to
die for his freedom, and ironically he has since been
jailed and is currently one of Cuba's political prisoners. It
can't be real, but I need the time, yes and menial,
(10:16):
lest they see that one of the time to bata
toil and brigue at Manuel eyes lamente qu momental dampt
(10:42):
like yeah, bast no no, no, yellow no, said yellow patriot.
All right, let's welcome to of the leading voices, Cuban
(11:04):
American voices that here in the United States have helped
organize Jose Voices on the East Coast and the West Coast.
They're Cuban American brothers. I respect them a lot. Their
true friends Jason and j join us today, gentlemen. How
are you. We're doing great, brother, We're doing great. Thank
you for having us. We we really appreciate it. I
liked the older brother always speaks first. That's important, you know,
it's seniority. I have to, uh, I gotta give it
(11:27):
up to him. I mean, I gave him two seconds,
I gave him a second step in so I said,
let me. You know, let me step up. Let's start
with jo alone. The Julio eleventh of July. Why was that?
Why was that date important to you? And what what changed?
Because you me, your brother uh Jose has been doing
a lot, a lot, all of us that love and
(11:48):
enjoy and respect liberty and democracy have been doing a
lot for our brothers and sisters uh In in the island.
What did July eleventh mean to you? Well, said Um,
July eleventh, to me represents, uh, the beginning of the
end of an era, of a brutal era that has
(12:12):
lasted way too long. I think that it was always
within the Cuban community. There was always a a a divisiveness,
you know, between the Miami Cubans and the Cubans on
the island. You know, I grew up uh listening to that,
and I think that what July Levin did was it
unified US Cubans in Miami, Cubans on the island. Uh.
(12:35):
It made the message more clear than ever. You know,
in sixty two years, we hadn't seen those types of
manifestations coming from the island, coming from the people that
were doctrines by this regime, coming by the people, coming
from the people that UM that it was always it
was always there was always a doubt of how much
of Cuba actually wants to change, you know, UM. And
(12:59):
we saw in July of it that the majority of
Cubans they've had enough, They've had enough. They can't take
they can't take it anymore. They can't take the abuse anymore,
they can't take the oppressions anymore, they can't take the
brutality anymore. And and they they they literally cannot breathe
with the knee of this dictatorship on their necks. And
(13:20):
and they set enough is enough. They took to the streets.
They did not ask for vaccines, they did not ask
for food, they did not ask for water. They asked
for a systematic change. And I think that we saw
in July eleven was the beginning of of many more
manifestations to come. The way the regime handled those manifestations,
as they've historically done, UM fractured the little relationship that
(13:42):
was left between the Cuban people and and the and
the Castro regime. Gen Carlos has been on the East
coast organizing a lot of the demonstrations that we've seen
a lot of the marches as well, and your brother
Jason is on the West Coast and Los Angeles doing
the very same for the people of Cuba. What did
this What has this movement mean to you? This historic
day in Cuba, Jason brother? I mean, it's gonna be
(14:06):
a lot of what my brother just said. Um, But
to not repeat the same thing, which is exactly how
I feel, I'll just add that you know this, obviously,
July eleventh is a is a monumental day for our people,
considering that you know, they they finally said enough, they
finally came out. Um. But it's important to understand obviously
(14:29):
we understand, but it's important that the people who don't
know much about what's happening or what has been happening
understand that this is something that has been going on
for sixty plus years. Um. You know, July eleven was
just the pot boiling over. Our parents, are grandparents, our generation.
This is three generations that have been robbed at their freedom.
(14:50):
Are my grandparents died dreaming of a free Cuba? Uh?
You know, Giancarlos, my my sister, and nett Eric myself.
We grew up you know, being told the stories the
same way that I'm sure you guys and many people
hearing this grew up, you know, hearing the stories of
what our parents went through, what our grandparents went through,
and you know, for me, I was always I always
(15:12):
felt so proud to be Cuban, but I never really
understood the you know, the root of it all until
July eleven, when I when I saw those images come
out the island and I saw the oppression like firsthand,
like really seeing the faces of the Cuban people, you know,
as they marched with with with the courage of you know,
(15:34):
looking down the barrel of a gun and screaming Patria
da and knowing what consequences like, I think that was
the first time in twenty nine years of my life
that I truly was able to put faces to the
stories that my grandparents told me, that my parents told me,
because up until July eleven, all I ever was able
to use was my imagination. And man, seeing those images
(15:57):
and seeing the kids, seeing the know the the aggression
that the regime has leashed unleashed on its people. Uh man,
it's it's really struck me in a way to where
there's absolutely no way that I could just stay put.
I have to use my voice. I have to, you know,
do whatever I can. And thankfully so many young people
(16:19):
have come together Cubans uh Um, Venezuelans, Nikara Winds uh
and a lot of first generation, which has you know,
it fills me up with so much freaking happiness to
see that my generation is actually understanding the importance of
this and that we're coming together and that we're trying
to spread awareness. Um. You know, I think the regime never,
(16:40):
never in a million years envisioned the kids of the
exiles feeling that same burning passion for for Cuba to
come out on the streets and and to speak up
all around the world. And and I think that, you know,
July eleven was a big victory for the Cuban people,
uh considering uh, you know what it means, what it started,
and this is going to be along sight and we're
(17:02):
committed to to go in to battle for as long
as we have to. You just you described it well.
Because as Cuban Americans, I think we all feel the same.
It's kind of like we feel respect for our grandparents,
right and and for all the exile Cuban community that
hasn't been able to see a free Cuba. That you know,
we have our grandparents that are now unfortunately dying without
having to being able to to to return that our
(17:24):
parents like in Jose's in your case, Jose has has passed, right,
so we kind of feel like a it's a great
sense of responsibility. It's it's our turn to step up
to the plate. And that's the the unique part of
this in so many things. Uh. And also that Julio
changed things, change things inside Cuba. But I think it
also looking at these two brothers change a lot of
(17:46):
people outside of Cuban. I wanted to kind of get
a gauge from from both of you. Something that that
Jason you talked about about You didn't really understand in
your pores what your parents and grandparents talked so much
about until you saw it the past eleventh of July.
(18:10):
And what is it about that eleventh of July? But
you know what, it's also as as as as when
we grow up as kids, we always hear our parents
and Cuba this used to happen this way and that,
so it's kind of and then you're kind of like,
you gotta so what is it? What is the problem?
I want to I want to say something I want
to say something really quick, like and Jen, Jen is
(18:32):
gonna understand this because we're I'm talking about our parents here.
You know, our family has been through a lot, you know,
over the years, the same as any family, I think,
and and we've always had the utmost respect and admiration
for both my father and my mother, you know, seeing
the struggle, uh, seeing everything that they've gone through, you know,
(18:55):
losing two kids, um, and just you know, are coming
the obstacles that life has always thrown at them, the
way that life throws obstacles at us. Um. But for me,
like these last couple of weeks, you know, just really
understanding the way that they've had to carry on their
shoulders these last fifty plus years, having left you know,
(19:19):
their home. Uh. You know again you said it. I
never really understood in my pores the pain and the
trauma that they have lived with all these years. You know.
My mom, My mom left as an eleven year old
girl and her parents told her, don't unpack, you know,
we're coming back. At the end of the month. That
(19:41):
month went by, I was like, Hey, don't unpack, don't unpack,
just use whatever you gotta use, but we're going back.
It's been fifty plus years. They never went back. My
grandfather died, my grandmother died, my mom. My mom did
everything she could to stay in contact with her family
and help them over the years. And I had to
see my mom more the loss of her uncle and
her cousin, you know, within ten days of each other,
(20:02):
this last two weeks from COVID because they couldn't get
access to an oxygen tank. And to see my mom
that devastated because she couldn't do anything, you know, Like
it shows you the real, the real like atrocity that
this this regime will be held accountable for so many things,
for the for the murders, for the political prisoners, for everything.
But the one thing that I believe is at the
(20:25):
top of the list, considering at least where my value stands. Uh,
nothing in this world is more important to me than family,
than unity. And this regime has separated I mean, I
can't put a number on it, but the separation of family,
you know, to me is one of the most horrendous
things that anybody could do. And when you talk about
the amount of families that have been literally destroyed because
(20:49):
of this regime, it's there's no word to describe that pain.
And and we're seeing it. We're seeing I mean, I
just cannot imagine being separated from my family for fifty
plus years. I don't, I don't understand for me, and
I'll be able to see my brother or my sister,
my parents, Like I just why, I don't even know.
I really do not know. How, Um, you have to also,
(21:12):
we have to also, we have to also take into consideration, Jose,
based on what you said, you know, talking about why what? Why?
Why is the first generation Cubans? Why our first generation Cubes?
Why don't we feel this way? Look, I remember growing
up as a young artist, you know, Um, being growing
up in a Cuban family, which, by the way, I
believe that we come into this world with a purpose.
(21:34):
I believe that we're born within a Cuban family for
a reason, or within a Mexican family for a reason.
I believe we come with purpose. And I proud take
on that purpose and responsibility of being the son of
Cuban immigrants. You know, everyone has a different story. This
is our story, this is our duty, you know, and
(21:55):
I believe that you know, as first generation Cubans, I
grew up, see my my friends from Columbia when they
were little, saying, Oh, I'm gonna go this summer with
my parents to their home count to to Columbia, or
I'm gonna go to Mexico. I'm gonna go here, I'm
gonna go there. I was never able to do that.
We were never able to do that. We were never
(22:15):
able to to go vacation in the homeland where it
all started, in the blood that runs through our veins.
And it's like they instill such a huge love in
us as Cuban Americans for our roots. It's like introducing
you to the love of your life and then telling
you that you could never meet her and you may
(22:35):
never be able to you know. And and it's a
big void that we grow up with. And I think
that those images that we saw on July eleventh there
reminded us of of the frustration um that of of
seeing how look in Puerto Rico and the manifestations happened to,
you know, to to to throw out the governor that
(22:58):
was there at the time. They were able to man
of Festal. There was there was no police beating them
on the streets, and a month later he was out.
Because that's what a democracy looks like, you know, that's
what a system that actually is there for the people
and by the people looks like to see these images
and too and to feel that no matter how much
we do, you know, we can't be there for them.
(23:21):
We can't just get on the plane and go because
what's the strategy there? How is that going to make
a difference. It's very frustrating, it's very painful, you know.
But let me tell you this, and let me just
add to that. We can't stop. We can't stop. We
can't let that be a crutch. We can't let that
be the reason why we give up. Because social media
(23:41):
has become a huge ally for us. I believe that
July Levin what it did is it unveiled a truth
about this system to not just us as Cuban as
that we're already exposed to this truth, but to the
world a lot of people. We we've seen the the
the romantic, you know, fictitious, a story that that through propaganda,
(24:02):
this regime has sped to the whole world. And like
you said, in Los Angeles or in Europe, you see
people will check it out of shirts and they just
don't understand the whole truth. So for me July eleventh,
what it did and along with the tool of social media,
along with all of our voices collectively caring about this
(24:23):
caring about democracy UM, it unveiled the truth about this
regime to a lot of people that were living a
complete lie when it comes to to to the reality
in Cuba. We are very proud of our next guests.
She is actually the first tenure Latino professor at upen's
(24:43):
Graduate School of Education and Ivy School at that Dr Amalia,
thank you for being here with us today. Thank you
for having me. It's it's it's a pleasure and an
honor to to be on this on this show. It's
such an important topic. Dr Well, July eleventh. In Cuba,
a move movement or or a moment, it is a
movement for sure, and I studied movements. I've studied movements
(25:07):
since two thousand and fourteen when we had the Ferguson
uprising in two thousand and fourteen because of police violence
and very similar to what's happening UM in Cuba now.
When you think about the repression and the history of
repression when it comes to the police state towards Cuban people,
there is a racial dynamic. And so that's something I'm
(25:27):
very familiar with when it comes to two movements um
happening around the world, but but again more in particular
too to the US and and of course now in Kua,
and we've been shut off from the world, you know,
Joseay and I've been talking about this, uh doctor for
such a long time, and it's so frustrating to to
see so many of our of our actors and actresses
(25:48):
and musicians and poets that never internationalized because of this
dictatorship that we are just now, you know, within the
past several years, getting to know more of thanks to
social media, right, thanks to the you know, the internet
finally coming think without But this is very real, and
(26:19):
there's a lot of pain, and it's very deep, and
it's very real, and it's so sad, and it's and
this and this pain in this history again thinking about
a post you know, dictatorship, all of this is going
to be a part of the new the newe right,
this is this is what's going to shape, this is
what's going to make it an organic, in organic process
that again we can learn from these other models South
(26:41):
Africa post Soviet context, but we also have our own autonomy. Right,
that's coming out of even right now. Right, we're making
history right now. This is gonna shape the history of Kua.
You know, Jay Levin Is is a movement. It's a
movement that's happening, and it's in it's an organic process
that's gonna shape, you know, the new democracy, the new
(27:01):
democracy that emerges um from the work that we're doing
in the diaspora, from the international commitments. I mean, we
haven't even talked about, you know how silence. You know
the rest of the world is when it comes to
Buba's for our supporting Guba and putting pressure on at
Banya and putting pressure on Italy and putting pressure on
pressure on those who actually do business in Goula without
(27:24):
thinking about the human rights abuses and the repression that
is happening to the Cuban population. Like, how are we
gonna hold these these governments in these countries accountable? And
how do we get international support? I mean, I think
this is one way, right, like awareness, continual continual media attention,
especially those of us who you know, our positions where
(27:44):
we have a you know, carry a lot of weight
because of our institutions, but you know, there's there's got
to be political political accountability as well. There's so much, uh,
you really scratch your head, you think, why should we
have to It's like pull teeth to you know, to
try to just just to get people to just to
open up there not even their eyes, their hearts to
(28:06):
something that's happening. It's a real time genocide happening on
on our on our and it's it's up to us
right to step up to the plate. And you would
think that these kind of things like kond that I'm
out that way, like we say, Cubans say, right, this
is just as as just human good people, just good
human beings saying about these people are hurting. Let me
raise my voice. Like jose and I were talking a
(28:26):
little while ago as well. There's certain things that you
can be quiet and silent upon and it's okay, unacceptable.
This is not one of those moments. This is not
one of those things that it's is acceptable for anyone
to to to stay mute on. If we care, if
we care, if we care about human rights, if we
care about civil rights, then this should not be an issue.
We should be Salentine doctor. Always remembering Sulten wrote the
(28:48):
Goolag Archipelago. Well, Cuba has been living as a gulag
archipelago for sixty two years, and it's only when the
Sultans of the world published outside that gulag that things
can at least start to change in at least some
world solidarity. Absolutely. Absolutely, Again, the writing, the art, the
(29:13):
music announced I'm thinking about there was a there was
an order that Luis Manuel did in April two thousand
twenty one. Do you remember it was when he did
the It was the one where he he actually had
a mechanism that was used for oppression during the colonial period.
It was called think about that. There's there's a racial
(29:39):
dynamic too for that, right, the fact that he uses
got used it, positioned themselves inside of it, put himself
inside of his home and said for the police to come,
if you're going to lynch me, then I've given you
the tools to do that. Right. But this this tool,
this got ho they deal was actually used during the
colonial period in for the a clouds. And so again
(30:01):
you have the artists, the artists are using their voice
to talk about these these these these these social racial
processes that are so intertwined in google under the political
repression that we have to hear their voices, and yes,
these are they're the ones that are documenting what's happening.
Is least us in the journalists and those who are
(30:23):
using it the pen as as a weapon, almost right,
using art as a weapon, using the pen as a weapon.
And exactly this is being published and the youth of
putting it out and the people are putting it out,
and it's a very again, it's a very organic and
intertmined process between social actors. Thank you for your time.
You know, they're saying, we always say, you know what
(30:45):
is it being the smartest person in the room. Uh.
We are honored with your presence and with Jose's as well,
and I feel like the dumbest person in the dr.
I also have to to thank you because you know what, uh,
there are so many layers in the Cuban reality. There
(31:06):
are so many uh under the skin layers of Cuban
reality that has to be exposed. And and thank you
for for your voice, thank you for your knowledge, thank
you for sharing it with us. It I think that
all of us, at least I know speaking for I
(31:27):
think here we've learned a lot and that's the best
gift that you could give, and you've given it well.
Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate all
of the conversations that we've had today related to these topics,
and I wanted to end on this note. I want
to think about my father. My father was one of
the first political prisoners in Cuba that that used the
tool of challenging the regime through through you know, through
(31:51):
driving a bus into the American embassy UM and being
imprisoned for that. In so I think about the history
of my father resistance and how use protests UM to
challenge the regime in nive and seeing that being present
in the eighties and the nineties and now through social
media and through you know, Kuwanas being on the street,
(32:11):
I think that you know, I owe that to to
to the legacy of all of the Kuwanos that you
know that have been you know, imprisoned and also have
been you know detained. So I just wanted to shout
out my own family legacy UM in this struggle. Thank
you very much, DR. I think that's what we're all
trying to do, right, continue the legacy of our parents,
of our grandparents. UM. God bless your your your father
(32:36):
rest his soul. Yes, thank you. Let's talk to one
of Cuba's biggest artists. He's one of the very few
Cuban artists that have been able to take his music,
his talents and internationalizing. Look I hate you, look at
(32:59):
and bullge a the who no one Tom Yeah, come
on one exact free home you are to sport being
(33:34):
mention arcal hashtag s o s qant lianas hip hop
(33:58):
can sob you hip hopano call out, nucular caring contralto
(34:19):
guando uban very yankee bal being. I can't help soona
um too. Look, oh you know what what that was?
A bambo or que I can dentific I get consent, Yes,
(34:47):
yo concent okay, presented at the familiar amigo yatrivia wow
(35:39):
oo O two o yo proma all to you to
inclusio mirsaya padria to yo to consus sexual ilamia to
lamia to yo to inferencia em diferencia, das la provo
(36:04):
dia patrevia era la necessaria, parag look es patria plan
(36:28):
patrivida the patriviao alright, listen to the Cuban exile community.
(36:50):
Carmo Willie will He's so much more than that. He's
a Cuban, simple as facilmente. This man is a Cuban
American musician performer who arrived in the United States through
the famed Peter Pan flights that brought so many of
(37:12):
Cuba's youth escaping military inscription and indoctrination at the beginning
of the Castro Revolution. Wely cheating on never ever ever
forgets his country or his home and which he's evoked
in all of his songs. Almost every single one of
Willie Tino's songs he mentions his beautiful homeland, Ah throughout
(37:37):
his beautiful career sixty two years of exile here in
the United States. After July eleven, I remember we cheating
on doing a live on Instagram that touched my heart
and I think about it and I still still be
sentimental because sorry, really do they hate Algum William And
(38:02):
I'll never forget And to total the other cheating, the
mainta Willie's voice continuously bounces in my head after his
life that he did on Instagram. When Willie said, I've
been saying this for sixty two years, I've been screaming
this through my music. Yeah. Uh, and every one of
my songs wherever, in every single stage that I stand on,
I I I fight for it, for Cuba and and
(38:25):
and his and his people. And Willie said, and I'm
asking God, David, who are really cheating the momentary? And
That's what I've been asking myself every single day. What
role do I need to pay? Pay play as a
Cuban American? UM So grateful that this country opens his
arms to my parents and too my and to my grandparents.
(38:47):
So really, thank you for everything that you do. Thank
you for those beautiful words. Thank you for being here
with Jose and I in this project s OS Cuba,
this podcast where we're hoping to shed some light on
the Cuban tragedy and hoping that you know the voices
like yours don't don't go mu, don't go silence. I
thank you and I respect you so much. Really, thank
you for being here. I am very happy to be
(39:08):
here with you two good friends for a long time,
which I respect and I admired. And I thank you
also for being part of this and helping keep the
flame alive that started in Cuba. We must, as I
have said before, do whatever it is that we can
(39:31):
to keep those uh that flame alive. I quote Hosea
Tea quite quite a bit because to me, he's an
inspiration in every aspect of my life. And who once said,
I'll say it in Spanish, I'll try and try to
translate it later. He said to Aliment that and that
(40:02):
they say referring to a lot of people that say that,
you know, you can't mingle politics and music and arts
and stuff like that, and it's just the opposite. When
you're dealing with freedom, with liberty like we have been
for sixty two and a half years, you know, you
always fall back to I at least to fall back
(40:25):
to those words would say at the lad when we're
dealing with freedom, everything to claimed the fire, even the arts.
So that's what I'm doing. I'm trying through my music.
I've been doing it for a long time, but especially
now that you know, the keeping people finally decided to
(40:53):
to wake up and have the you know, the audacity
to go to the street and fight for their freedom.
We must be here on this side, outside hive and
trying to help whatever it means that we can to
get the message across, to get those images seen by
(41:16):
millions of people around the world so they can actually
crasp you know, the sad situation that the Cubans have
been leaving for so lot. Does it surprise you, WILLI
that this new movement and awakening in Cuba was started
not by politicians, not by radio broadcasters, or it was
started by Puello, started by musicians such as yourself, and
(41:38):
through the power of social media with the hashtag s
s Cuba pat he started by h And so you
see the see those artist musicians are plastic painters, writers
(41:59):
and all of these bullets. And that's what it is.
We must, you know, use our tools against and yes,
I said, which is very important to us. Wait, well
(42:19):
they'll do, Yeah, I must. You know, it's important to
to kind of underline that Willie is the creator of
the Miami music sound. You know, he is. He is it.
And and we why is it that you focused always
(42:41):
on issues such as Cuba freedom and the need for
people to live free when you're starting a career that well,
those kinds of issues weren't really talked about, right, They
weren't popular, not not not a cool, not cool to
sing about at that moment. Let's be honestly, because not cool.
(43:03):
I totally agree, and it has affected me a lot
throughout the years. But the latter compensa for what I've done.
You know, I'll change every problem that has come across
because of that, Joe, the posite of grand grand Maoria,
(43:31):
the poil of one when I see the real no
con la course of wins. They even presuming tom is
unique plas contado no can be insta, but I mean
(44:05):
made totally, I mean totally make sure that it was
the was a center has the same time tho they
said the center you know, okay, okay, the part you
(44:31):
nikos membrat any music presenters, the quality of course socially
(44:55):
MBA for your parents. R woman's I had the land
basicleman on the universes, Well call Casio okay, no Paris apprecious,
(45:27):
impress you. Yeah, one of these academy who banquet where
fourteen thousand, fourteen thousand Cubans children left the island with
ours without some some of the stories of Peter Bran
(45:50):
and not ye very good. So some of them are
sort of trashed tragic because then couldn't back to their parents.
My situation, who was one of the better ones I
was lacking, but uh, you know, living in freedom is
(46:10):
the is the most you can see it every day,
you know, thousands of people trying to get into this
country and that believe in because of the freedoms that
we enjoy. This is a blessing. So I every day
(46:30):
in my life when I wake up, I thank the Lord.
Every night before I go to bed, I thank the
Lord for living in this country that you know, sixty
years ago open the doors for me and allowed me
to achieve the American dream. That's such a nice. On
(46:54):
the next s O s Cuba, we'll talk about Cuban
now and what life is really like on the island today.
M s O s Cuba is produced by Ntque Santos,
Risa Varona, Ullo Ramirez, Harold Valenzuela, DJ extreme Ulver, Matteo Rosiaca,
thro Antelemundo in partnership with I Heart Radios MI Coultura
podcast Network. For more podcasts from I Heart, visit the
(47:17):
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Yea
Host
Enrique Santos
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