14ymedio, Madrid, 26 March 2024 — “I understand the young people who leave,” replies Silvio Rodríguez bluntly when asked about the wave of migration from Cuba. The singer/songwriter, as usual, then tempers his answer. “There is only one life and the situation in Cuba is quite difficult. We have had to replace generations while under siege. Cuba’s greatest achievements, such as our schools, are still operating though with great difficulty. Our hospitals also are also up and running, though with fewer staff, resources and medications,” he adds.
An interviewer with El Español, an online news site headquartered in Madrid, tried to put Rodríguez on the spot with his questions but the singer-songwriter, despite being a veteran of many battles, once again made clear that he was unwilling to veer too far from the official line. Laying blame for the source of Cuba’s ills, he says, “We cannot forget that very unjust imperial sanctions weigh on Cuba, which has been condemned for decades – at least verbally – in the United Nations. Though the United States government claims there is no blockade because they sell us frozen chicken, the truth is that the economic pressure has been doing what that U.S. undersecretary [of state] predicted it would do sixty years ago: produce discontent through economic strangulation,” he points out.
“Cuba’s greatest achievements, such as our schools, are still operating but with great difficulty. Our hospitals also are also up and running, though with fewer staff, resources and medications”
Perhaps toughest question is one related to international affairs, when the interviewer raises the issue of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He asks Rodríguez if it is not possible for him to criticize Vladimir Putin, whose actions “stand in stark contrast to communist values.”
“When you put it that way — ‘the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ — I’m also not happy about that either,” responds Rodríguez, who then falls back on officialdom’s standard rhetorical arsenal, citing the Maidan Revolution, the conflict in the Donbas and the eventual admission of Ukraine into NATO at the behest of the United States. “I don’t understand why Western Europe didn’t draw closer to Russia,” he says.
Rodríguez is more cautious when talking about Spain. Though he confesses to a pr
