CUBAN EXILE COMMUNITY
Juanes: Cuba concert is not about politics
BY JORDAN LEVIN
jlevin@MiamiHerald.com
Colombian rocker Juanes says that despite the political firestorm
surrounding the concert he has planned for Havana next month, he is only
seeking to connect with the Cuban people and to promote change with his
music.
``This is not about politics,'' he told The Miami Herald Tuesday of his
decision to play a concert in Cuba in the historic Plaza de la
Revolución in Havana on Sept. 20.
``Nobody called us, nobody invited us to Havana,'' he said. ``I am not a
communist. I am not aligned with the government. I'm not going to Cuba
to play for the Cuban regime.
``Our only message is one of peace, of humanitarianism, of tolerance, a
message of interacting with the people,'' he said.
Juanes sells millions of albums, fills arenas across the Americas, has a
shelf full of Grammys and is widely admired for his humanitarian work in
his native Colombia.
CONTROVERSY
His stature has made his decision to play the Sept. 20 concert --
entitled Paz Sin Fronteras (Peace Without Borders) -- a potential
turning point in the sometimes hostile relationship between Cuba and the
exile community, even as it has unleashed a storm of controversy in
Miami and beyond.
For some, a star like Juanes playing in Cuba lends credibility to a
dictatorial government and ignores the plight of political prisoners and
dissidents.
``He is playing the game of those assassins,'' says Ana Margarita
Martinez, well-known locally for unwittingly marrying a Cuban spy who
infiltrated the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. ``He is going to a
place where there are no human rights. . . . I'm insulted.''
Juan Carlos Espinosa, an associate dean of the Honors College at Florida
International University, says Juanes has every right to perform in
Cuba, but ``what I object to is that he says his performing in Cuba is
not a political act. Choosing to perform in Cuba, where everything is
politicized and a military regime has ruled for 50 years, is in and of
itself a political decision.'' Sitting in his sun-filled home in Key
Biscayne on Tuesday, Juanes said the concert is a way to go beyond
politics, and to inspire both sides to reach out to each other in a
different way.
``I cannot give answers to all these questions people are asking me''
about politics in Cuba, he said. ``It's not my strength. It's not
something I can control. . . We are musicians, not politicians.
``It seems to me that Cuba is a country that's been isolated for many
years, for historic reasons that we all know,'' he added. ``I respect
that profoundly. I know that what has happened has been hard. But we're
talking about now, the present, today.''
Juanes says what matters is that he will be playing for an expected
audience of more than 600,000 Cubans who almost never have the chance to
hear musicians outside the island.
Juanes will be joined by pop singers Miguel Bosé of Spain, Olga Tañon
from Puerto Rico, and by the Cuban artists Silvio Rodríguez and Los Van
Van. Unlike previous concerts featuring foreign pop stars -- a 1979
event with Billy Joel and one in 1999 with Bonnie Raitt and members of
The Police -- there will be no restrictions on who can attend, he says.
They will perform in front of the National Library, the same location
where Pope John Paul II gave a Mass in 1998, instead of in front of
politically controversial monuments to Che Guevara and Jose Martí.
``How great it'll be to be there and see this plaza that's so big filled
with an immense quantity of people enjoying artists that they want to
see,'' Juanes says. ``And we want to see them too. We want to see the
Cuban people.''
SUPPORTERS
A number of Cuban-American groups have also come out in support of
Juanes' efforts, and the singer says much of what he hears from his many
Cuban friends in Miami is positive. Exiles who want to change the
dialogue with the island applaud the star's efforts.
``I believe in Juanes' honesty,'' says Miami musician, writer and
teacher Alfredo Triff. ``I don't think he should have to make any
statements. All he has to do is play. I'm sure a bunch of people are
dying to hear him. This concert can be a force for good.''
The concert comes as the Obama administration has eased restrictions on
Cuban-American travel and remittances to the island, and amid
speculation that it is considering further changes to U.S.-Cuba policy,
including a return to the people-to-people cultural exchanges promoted
by the Clinton administration. Later this year the New York Philharmonic
will play in Cuba.
U.S. FAVOR
This month, a State Department official told El Nuevo Herald that the
department was in favor of these kinds of cultural exchanges.
Juanes' first move in planning the event was to meet with Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and members of the administration and Congress in
May, to see if they would support his efforts and give permission to the
U.S. musicians and technicians to come to the show.
``This is the right moment to start something,'' Juanes says. ``In the
last administration, for sure we weren't talking about this. But with
this administration, with Obama as president, I believe it's different.''
Juanes staged the first Paz Sin Fronteras concert in March 2008, on the
Colombia-Venezuela border as tensions between the two countries seemed
about to turn into armed conflict. That show, which included Bosé and
other Latin stars, drew 100,000 people.
But Juanes says many of the artists who were originally going to join
him in Cuba have dropped out. He and his manager have been seeking
sponsors but so far have not found any, and say they will cover the
approximately $300,000 cost themselves.
``I don't need to do this,'' Juanes says. ``I'm doing this because I
really believe that music is powerful.
``Yes, maybe I'm a dreamer. But I'm not going to change. If after the
concert nothing positive happens, that's a risk I'm taking.''
Miami Herald staff writer Lydia Martin contributed to this story.
Juanes: Cuba concert is not about politics - Miami-Dade -
MiamiHerald.com (26 August 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/v-fullstory/story/1202431.html
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