‘Patria y Vida’: The Dissident Rappers Helping Drive Cuba’s Protests

have a common rallying cry: “Patria y Vida,” or “Fatherland and Life.” The phrase comes from a hip-hop song released a few months ago by dissident Cuban artists who set out to challenge the government—and in the process helped spark a wave of protests against the 62-year communist regime.

In the demonstrations that began Sunday, Cubans have called for an end to the regime, protesting the scarcity of food and medicine amid a surge of coronavirus cases. For Cuba’s frustrated youth in particular, “Patria y Vida” has become a danceable protest anthem and a viral sensation, with nearly six million views on YouTube.

Part of the video was recorded in secret in February by rapper Maykel Castillo and performance artist Luis Manuel Otero, who were careful to elude the police officers who routinely follow them. The pair met in an abandoned house and tapped into a power line to turn on their lighting equipment. From Miami, superstar rapper Yotuel, the founder of the Cuban group Orishas, coordinated production, stitching together images recorded by rappers in Havana and Miami.

Messrs. Castillo and Otero’s group, called the San Isidro Movement, has given new life to the country’s scattered dissident groups through music and conceptual art performed on the street. They were unusually successful in drawing attention to civil rights in a nation that has long kept a tight lid on dissent. And they adroitly used social media, which appeared in Cuba only recently, to reach a wide local and international audience.

Cubans want freedom but they do not want their country to be taken over by a racist right-wing so-called conservative.

El WSJournal está con la gusanera fascista de Miami........

Patria! y Vida! y Libertad!

How did that end? Someone watched Arrested Development and got inspired.

They took one look at Trumps presidency & thought, “yup, I want a piece of that action”…

Bay of Pigs 2.0? This was clearly orchestrated by the US.

nice

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