Posted on Fri, Apr. 11, 2008
BY CASEY WOODS AND ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
Artist Elvis Manuel has been known to use his lyrics to express his
opposition toward Cuban economic policies.
Cuban reggaeton star Elvis Manuel may be lost at sea, marooned on a tiny
spit of sand in the Florida Straits, hiding on the communist island or
waiting it out somewhere to make a grand entrance into the U.S. rapper
scene.
The mystery of Elvis Manuel Martínez Nodarse's whereabouts was
heightened Friday when it was learned his mother was being held on a
Coast Guard cutter, but officials said the singer was not among those
interdicted at sea. He may have been on a second boat, supporters said.
The Coast Guard confirmed Friday night that it had begun a search.
Elvis Manuel, 19, purportedly left Cuba Monday on a 33-foot boat with
his mother and 23 other people, including two other rappers -- Carlos
Rojas Hernandez, known as ''DJ Carlitos,'' 30, and Alejandro ''DJ
Jerry'' Rodriguez Lopez, whose age was not available, his friends and
his U.S. music producer say. Weather conditions were rough from Sunday
night into early Monday, according to the National Weather Service
office in Key West.
Left behind: the rapper's 10-year-old sister with Down syndrome, who
stayed in Cuba with their father. She is one reason, his friends said,
that Elvis Manuel is driven to succeed -- to get her better care.
''Everything he does is for her, and his biggest hope is to get her out
one day,'' said Javier ''Voltaje'' Fernández, owner of Metamorphasis
Music and Production, who collaborated with the rapper on his recent
single -- a reggaeton-rap fusion called Esa Mujer, or That Woman. ``He
is a simple, kind person.''
The young performer's disappearance once again drew attention to the
growing number of Cuban migrants leaving the island. At least 1,240
Cuban migrants have been interdicted in the Florida Straits in the last
six months -- 425 more than during a similar period the previous year --
an indication of rising smuggling operations, U.S. officials say. Almost
8,000 other Cuban migrants have landed on South Florida shores or shown
up at the Mexican border since October.
Many of those who have arrived on U.S. soil are artists, athletes and
other professionals who say they see little or no future in Cuba despite
the recent political shifts. The ailing Fidel Castro resigned as
president in February, replaced by his brother Raúl, who so far has
enacted limited economic reforms.
Friends and fans of Elvis Manuel staged vigils and rallies Friday,
hoping to put pressure on an extensive search at sea and to ensure that
if Elvis Manuel is found, he would not be returned to Cuba.
Among those showing solidarity, Cuban-American singer Willy Chirino and
humorist Bonco Quiñongo, who left Cuba for Spain in 1999 and appears on
several comedy shows on South Florida Spanish-language television
station America TeVe, and the hosts of a morning radio show on El Zol
95.7 FM, El Vacilón de Miami, which aired live from Versailles
Restaurant in Little Havana.
`DOUBLE PERSECUTION'
''He will have a double persecution if he gets sent back -- first
physical and mental, and second as an artist,'' said Quiñongo, whose
real name is Conrado Cogle, ``because his career there will be over.''
U.S.-based producers who work with Elvis Manuel said his growing
frustration with the Cuban government drove him to try to leave
immediately -- even though they were working on a Latin American tour
for him this summer, one that could have allowed him to defect safely.
Fernández pointed to an April 4 performance in Havana, where, he said,
Elvis Manuel's show was cut short when someone in the crowd tossed a
tear gas bomb onto the stage.
''It's not clear if that was the police or someone trying to censor him,
but I think that's what made him do this,'' said Fernández, 33, who
lives in Las Vegas. ``The last time I was with him, I told him to have
patience, but he said, `I can't take this anymore. I can't sing
anywhere. My music is everywhere, but I don't have a cent to buy
something to eat.'''
Fernández, who was once part of the Cuban hip-hop group Clan 537, said
he slipped into Cuba last month to work with Elvis Manuel on a song.
Elvis Manuel tapes his music in a makeshift studio in DJ Jerry's small
home in the Los Pinos neighborhood of Havana. As Elvis Manuel recorded
his part into a battered microphone, cars and trucks rumbled by, a trio
of dogs yapped just outside, and neighbors walking by stopped below the
window to sing along as Elvis Manuel sang the chorus, Fernández said.
''He had to ask them to be quiet so he could finish recording,''
Fernández said. ``It's amazing the music he has been able to make under
those conditions. The walls trembled when he sang.''
By 8 p.m. Friday a few dozen people gathered on the MacArthur Causeway
outside the Coast Guard station for an evening vigil on Elvis Manuel's
behalf.
Several of them laid white carnations on the guardrail as passing
motorists honked in support.
Yanik Fenton, a spokeswoman for Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said
the Coast Guard told his office that Irioska María Nodarse, Elvis
Manuel's mother, was aboard a cutter.
A Coast Guard spokesman, Dana Warr, would not confirm that information,
following standard procedure in prior cases, but did confirm that a
group of Cuban migrants had been picked up.
Diaz-Balart wrote a letter Friday to Emilio Gonzalez, head of U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, noting: ``Due to the special
circumstances in this case, I respectfully request your assistance by
not repatriating Elvis Manuel Martinez Nodarse and Irioska Martinez
Nodarse to Cuba.''
If the Coast Guard finds Elvis Manuel, he would either be returned to
Cuba or taken to the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo, Cuba, to press his
case for political asylum.
MIGHT BE RELOCATED
He would be resettled to another country if he makes the case he would
be persecuted if returned to Cuba.
Elvis Manuel is a recent addition to the Cuban reggaeton scene. He had
two hits in Cuba last year, La Tuba and La Mulata.
Miami rapper Pitbull, who remixed one of Elvis Manuel's oversexed songs
La Tuba into a club hit, said he met with some of Elvis Manuel's
''people'' about two weeks ago to discuss collaborating in Miami..
''It's unfortunate that people have to go to such lengths, especially
someone so talented, to take advantage of freedom,'' he said in a
telephone interview. ``It's a desperate quest, but he'll keep trying.
This will all be part of his story, and it's all going to work out in
the end.''
Herald Staff writer Jordan Levin contributed to this article.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/491963.html
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