WHY WE ARE PROTESTING THE LATIN GRAMMYS

By Miguel L. Talleda

For many people, Cubans included, the Latin Grammys are a reason for pride and joy. It means recognition of our music, our artists, and all those that speak our language and have succeeded in giving the world the gift of our melodies with their voices and instruments.

But what happened that the Cubans in Miami, united once again as during the Elian Gonzalez saga and backed by more than 195 organizations decided to protest the holding of the Latin Grammys in that city? What made them renounce the prestige and financial gain that such an event would bring to their community?

Our sense of dignity is the reason. A small and elite group of artists from Cuba that work closely with the Castro government in bringing dollars to the regime so that it can continue to oppress our people has been nominated in various categories to receive the prestigious Grammy.

This was sufficient for the Cubans in Miami to protest. It is a double offense to the men and women whose families are forced to live under a system of abuse and miseries and where many have lost their lives for opposing the terror that reigns in their homeland. To showcase these Castro cronies at the Latin Grammys deeply offends the patriotic sensibility of each Cuban that has had to abandon his or her homeland to become an expatriate because freedom in our country has been hijacked by a bunch of bandits.

When we look at the particulars of why these artists that sing Castro’s praise were included to participate in the Latin Grammys, we find some interesting surprises. Why is it that New York Congressman, Jose Serrano, constant defender of Fidel Castro, was in contact with the leadership of the Latin Grammys discussing whether or not these should stay in Miami? Was he following instructions from his friend, the tyrant? Why is it that the issue of the Latin Grammys had become a topic for the Round Table, a television program in Havana? During one of those discussions, Jorge Ruiz Rojas nonchalantly said, "I am a member of the jury of the Latin Grammys and for me it has been a pleasure and a stroke of luck". How is possible that people from the Castro government are part of the Latin Grammys? Jorge Luis Rojas must be highly "integrated" in the Communist system to be allowed to make such comments on Cuban television.

But should we be surprised? Is it not CBS the network selected to cover the event and is this not the same network that has continuously profiled the "gains" of the Castro dictatorship? Isn’t the president of CBS as the mayor of Miami-Dade, Alex Penelas, has said a close friend of Fidel Castro? Aren’t the reporters from CBS the ones that admire everything about Castro while claiming "not to understand" that the Cubans in exile are fighting against Communism? The same reporters that label us extreme right wing, troglodyte, and other insults perpetuated by the Castro government?

Well, fine, the Cubans in Los Angeles will rise to the occasion and will also protest the presence of the Latin Grammys at the old Forum in Inglewood. We will protest against the organizers of this event and their collaboration with the fainting tyrant of Cuba. We will protest against the artists from Cuba that are coming to try and show the world that in Cuba there is freedom and that they are the proof. Only a few weeks ago, Omara Portuondo, one of the Cuban participants at the Grammys went to Venezuela to celebrate the birthday of Fidel Castro and was seen on television hugging and kissing this ill-fated character.

Our protest will be dedicated to those artists and musicians still in Cuba that are condemned to obscurity and misery because they will not conform and sing the praises of the regime. These artists are not allowed to travel or to enter into record contracts with any major music label in or out of Cuba. Furthermore, it is these music companies that are behind the collaboration between the Castro government and the Latin Grammys.

As recent proof of this we read in the August 22, 2001 edition of "El Nuevo Herald" in the section "Carta de Cuba" written from Cuba by Juan Uribe how Jorge Alfonso, a member of the group Los Cubanos has been waiting six years to make a record; and Juan Izaguirre of La Charanga Oriental who says they would like to play in Miami but are not given permission because the government only allows travel for those that praise the system. In his letter Juan Uribe goes on to say that Alberto San Juan is a singer that mixes son with rap. He walks the streets of Havana singing his harsh and dangerous lyrics in which he puts on trial the socialist system. "I don’t know if the Grammys should have stayed in Miami or not", says Alberto San Juan. "Here in Havana there was a rap festival but only those who praise Fidel could perform. I was not allowed to participate".

The protest against the Latin Grammys at the Forum in Inglewood is an opportunity for not only the Cubans in Miami, but all Cubans that are part of this great Diaspora to show that we repudiate the partnership between CBS and Michael Greene, president of the Grammys, with the bloody tyrant of the Caribbean.

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