The music of Dares Jaguar ranges from sensitive artistic expression to a raging political weapon.
HAVANA TIMES – Nicaraguan rapper and activist Roberto Balladares is better known in the world of music as the YouTuber “Dares Jaguar.” He’s found in music a way to keep alive his protest against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, even from exile.
In one song, he rages:
“This goes directly to the Commandante with his seal / a deranged old man with his mind lost in July of 67 / When he went to jail for robbing a bank / and since then distrusts everything, even his own shadow.
“A witchlike snake advises him to order death or jail / For everyone who dreams that our freedom can prevail.”
These lines form part of Curriculum Vitae / La Presentacion, a rap in which Dares Jaguar denounces the dictatorship and demands freedom for the political prisoners in Nicaragua.
The singer, 33, lives exiled in the United States, where he’s an active member of the Nicaraguan University Alliance, an organization that brings together young activists such as former student leaders Lesther Aleman and Max Jerez, who were jailed and later banished to the US by the Ortega regime.
“Right now, I’m working on several musical themes which I’ve been releasing on my digital platforms. But the idea for the future is to be able to find space in the international scene and represent my country, my culture and my ideals. I want to leave a legacy by reaching the ears of all the Spanish-speaking countries,”
