Silvio Rodriguez seems to have put an end to the controversy generated by the jazzman Roberto Carcasses. In a post written on his blog, Segunda Cita, the Cuban singer reported that the Ministry of Culture had “rescinded” the penalty imposed against the director of the Interactivo band.
Carcasses seemed to top the list of artists banned in Cuba, after seeking political change in a live televised concert. The musician and his accompanying group were one of the last to play after midnight, which is why the exact content of their statements was not common knowledge until they appeared in YouTube videos with their words.
The punishment didn’t take long in coming. According to the own Carcasses, they had been banned from all institutions governed by the Ministry of Culture, the sanction applied indefinitely, to make statements that “didn’t get along with the line of the Cuban revolution (sic). He had received the news on Friday, September 13 from an official of that entity that had called him.
Cuban authorities were monitoring what was published on the internet regarding this issue and should be well aware of the debate in the blogosphere that emerged locally, especially among those who defended the right of Carcasses to express his thoughts at any place and time.
The punishment against Carcassés caused a stir involving music heavyweights like Silvio Rodriguez himself, Cuban singer Diana Fuentes and Puerto Rican Rene Perez, Resident of Calle 13. The other Puerto Rican band member, Eduardo Cabra, wrote an open letter to the Cuban government. In the letter, he states that he “is greatly affected by the news about the cancellation of Robertico Carcassés musical activities following some statements during Interactivo presentation at the events marking the anniversary of the arrests of” The Five. “
Silvio Roidríguez had invited Carcassés tohis two upcoming concerts. The trobadeur said he made the decision because he “thinks appalling that the cause of the Five can be used as a pretext for an act of repression.”
But he also wrote: “I think that Robertico made a big mistake to choose the act for the liberation of the Cuban Five to launch his statement of claims. I would have preferred him to do it in another concert, on a discok, in another area that I believe that the struggle for freedom of the Cuban Five is a sacred flag of the people of Cuba, far above other considerations. “
Rodriguez defended the right of Carcasses to “manifest in his country what he thinks” but reiterating the idea that it was “unfortunate that a mistake has been made on the act for by our antiterrorism heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the safety of the people. Also I do not agree with excessive sanction of prohibiting a musician perform its function. “
With six days of scandal in his favor, and Interactivo and its Director may return to the stage. There is no bad publicity, they say, and Robertico Carcassés had enough in the last week.
