Havana singer says exiles should perform in Cuba
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald
A Havana singer who will take part in the Juanes concert Sunday has said
that exiled Cuban artists should be allowed to perform in the island and
criticized the notorious jailing of a Havana man for his drunken
complaint of widespread hunger as ``an awful error.''
The comments by Amaury Pérez in a telephone interview with Miami
television host Oscar Haza Tuesday were surprising because of his strong
support for the Castro government. In another recent interview, he said
he prayed every night for Fidel Castro's health.
Pérez helped arrange and will sing at the concert organized by Colombian
rocker Juanes, which has drawn criticisms from some Cuban-Americans that
it will be politicized by the island's communist government and features
no Cuban exile singers.
Asked if he would favor having Olga Guillot and Mike Porcel -- exile
singers who have strongly criticized the government -- appear in Havana,
Pérez replied, ``Of course, yes. That has been my stance all the time. .
. . In that exile are many friends . . . who are dear old friends. Why
not? Because we're all Cubans.''
He added that the Cuban government has met all the Juanes requests to
ensure that the concert remains apolitical. ``I have never seen Cuba say
Yes with so much nobility. All the times, it has been Yes, Yes, Yes.''
In another surprise, he criticized the case of Juan Carlos Gonzalez
Marco, better known as Pánfilo, a Havana man sentenced to two years in
prison after he appeared in a popular YouTube video drunkenly
complaining of widespread hunger on the island.
``I think it's a blunder, putting Pánfilo in prison. ``It really seems
to me an awful mistake . . . and I hope that is rectified soon.''
Pérez also said he often watches Oscar Haza's nightly Spanish language
talk show, A Mano Limpia, on Channel 41 America TeVe through a satellite
dish that he acknowledge was illegal under Cuban regulations.
``I defend, not only for myself but for all Cubans, the freedom of
information and the right to the free exchange of ideas,'' he declared
during the 25-minute interview.
In another part of the interview, Haza asked Pérez about a report by the
Spanish EFE news agency that quoted the Cuban singer as saying that the
Juanes concert would be ``a window'' for Cuba that could grow into ``a
door, a gate and a tide that no one will be able to stop.''
There has been some speculation that Cuban youth, many of them known to
be deeply frustrated with the island's system, might take advantage of
the international focus on the concert to express their discontent.
``I meant that as an example of interchanges among peoples,'' Pérez
said, ``like the fresh air of the Caribbean that goes from one place to
another. It was not a metaphor.''
Five more exile groups in Miami meanwhile criticized the Juanes concert
``For Peace Without Frontiers'' in a letter made public Wednesday,
saying it was an ``unacceptable joke'' to promise that the concert will
be without politics.
``This will be a peace of garrote and -stay-where-you-are,'' said the
letter by the Miami-based Cuban Liberal Part, the Patriotic Cuban Junta,
the Association of Free Cuban Musicians in Exile, the Jose Martí
Patriotic Association and the PanAmerican Institute for Democracy.
Another exile group, Mambisa Watch, announced that on Sunday evening it
will use a two-ton steamroller in Little Havana to destroy CDs from the
artists who will take part in the Juanes concert.
Havana singer says exiles should perform in Cuba - This Week in the
Americas (stories) - MiamiHerald.com (16 September 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/1373/story/1237076.html
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