Saturday, September 19, 2009

Kicking Ass with Music in Havanna

Colum- bian super-star, rock sensa- tion, Juanes, is going to perform a concert in Havanna, Cuba tomor- row. You can imagine how distraught certain elements of the Cuban-in-exile community are over this kindness, this act of generosity given to the Cubans who didn't run away to Florida back in 1959.

Whoa. STOP! It's not 1959, and it's not about 1959. It's time somebody stood up and acted like the adult in the room.

And I applaud Juanes for being that guy.

He's gonna give a gift to the people who live in Havanna today--people who are a generation or two removed from the revolution of 1959. He's singing for and to Cuba's future on the eve of the passing of those who led the Communist revolution back in the day. Men who are dying off in droves. Juan Almeida Bosque died last week, Fidel is not long for this world, and even Cuba's current presidente, Raul Castro has to be counting his days among his other duties. These dudes have made their mark. It's an utter and dismal freaking failure. The people of Cuba long for modernity. All that Juanes can do is give them a rich and joyous taste of that, that milk of the future, that mother's milk of freedom and self-determination. May they make of it a delicious thing.

How can anyone oppose that?

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