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CUBA‘s communist dictatorship is in charge of expatriating any Cuban who dares to raise his or her voice. This has been the case with journalists, activists, politicians and citizens of all kinds. But Castroism is especially keen on trying to silence the voices that speak louder and the ones who reach more people: those of artists, whom it pursues even after leaving the country and, of course, preventing their return. The story of Yotuel Romero, the singer and songwriter behind the hit ‘Patria y Vida,’ is no different.
Yotuel’s voice has sounded loudly in every corner of Latin America and has turned the eyes of new generations towards the bloodthirsty Cuban dictatorship. From exile, like the great artists of his homeland, he has used his voice to denounce the oppression to which the island is subjected and for defending human rights.
After the resounding success of his song ‘Patria y Vida’, which became an anthem of freedom during the protests against tyranny that shook Cuba starting July 11, 2021, Yotuel was received in Madrid, Spain, where he was invited by multiple Spanish parties to address the world from the Congress of Deputies.
During his reception, the president of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, reiterated her commitment to Latin American citizens fleeing communist dictatorships such as those in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and offered Yotuel the opportunity to begin a life of freedom in her city.
“We place ourselves at the disposal of the people of Cuba and always against dictatorships, wherever they come from, today most of them in the hands of communist governments, and we will always do so in defense of the most important thing that a person has, which is life and, above all, freedom,” Díaz Ayuso said in the act of welcoming Yotuel.
Since then, the Cuban singer has made Madrid his home, and has found there “the heart of Latinity.”
When Cubans lives in freedom
In a recent interview for the Spanish media ABC, Yotuel describes the things he found in Madrid that he never imagined he would find in other countries. The first surprise he got, the artist says, was public health care, a concept that Castro’s propaganda in Cuba insists on coining as typical of the communist regime.
“I came from a country where they claimed to be the only one with public health care,” the composer acknowledged. “It was said that in capitalist countries the poor were dying in the streets and nobody was taking care of them because of imperialism.”
When he arrived in Madrid, his wife, Beatriz Luengo, was pregnant. For them, it was a surprise that their son came into the world in a good hospital, free of charge, revealing “how much lies” they were accustomed to living in Cuba.
In Madrid, a community led by the ideas of freedom, Yotuel says he found for the first time the opportunity to express his opinion and expose his ideas without this preventing him from prospering or growing as an artist.
It has grown so much that Yotuel believes that Madrid could be “the new Miami” in the representation of Latinity. He speaks of that city as “the capital of human evolution”, which is “at the forefront of human rights,” and affirms that “there is no better place to defend Cuba’s freedom.”
After the experience he has lived in a city (and in a country) where the ideas of communism are widely rejected and where citizens cherish their freedom, and although he was talking about Spain, Yotuel said a phrase that applies to any system of freedoms, of free market, where everyone is able to pursue their dreams and express their opinions without fear of being forced to exile.
“If you want to see where there is no freedom, go to Cuba,” he said. “There, if you think differently from the regime, you are subjected to being bullied, jailed, extorted and, above all, forced into exile. Ask the Cuban opponents who are not allowed to enter Cuba for thinking differently.”
It is common to hear from American politicians and artists, especially from the more radical Democratic left, that the United States is an oppressive country, and that freedom is just an illusion. Interestingly, it tends to be Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan exiles (both in the U.S. and around the world), who have escaped totalitarian and liberticidal regimes, who strive to disprove that rhetoric.
Tomás Lugo, journalist and writer. Born in Venezuela and graduated in Social Communication. Has written for international media outlets. Currently living in Colombia // Tomás Lugo, periodista y articulista. Nacido en Venezuela y graduado en Comunicación Social. Ha escrito para medios internacionales. Actualmente reside en Colombia.