Some people in Miami believed that the Peace without Borders concert failed because the very next day Cubans weren't protesting in the streets as a result. That was an absurd argument. Musicians only have the power to present different views and feelings about life, and therefore can only create gradual changes within a larger culture.
The famous Argentinian folk singer Mercedes Sosa [photo above] died this past Sunday, and while she alone was an influential figure, she was only one part of a larger movement in Latin America: music for peace. As a result, this larger movement was able to generate real social and political change which we see today throughout the Latin region. Sosa's life is being remembered by governments throughout Central and South America, even in Europe.
In my youth I recall my parents listening to Mercedes Sosa. My parents are not interested in politics, but they listened because it was good music and had a good (religious) message. It was only a few years ago that I myself gained a small interest in Sosa, and I found her voice and lyrics to be very powerful too.
Sosa was a very religious person whose concern was for the poor and helpless, and gave her voice to them and the world. May she rest in peace.
Below is one of her best known songs (written by Leon Gieco) , and one of my favorites: "Solo le Pido a Dios (I Only Ask of God)."
Not much time to post nowadays. But, here goes. Also, thanks to all those who share their comments. I will try to respond to all, and attempt to interact more with readers since I will be posting less.
Now where was I? Oh, yes. So, there was a new poll taken concerning last month's Peace without Borders concert in Cuba [PDF]. According to the new numbers, the majority of Cuban-Americans interviewed (53%) had a favorable opinion of the concert (a stark change from a previous poll showing a majority opposed to the planned concert [PDF]). I had commented elsewhere that perhaps Cubans in Miami had changed their minds about the concert after it aired live on several local channels in Miami. Indications in the local media proved accurate.
What I found most interesting in the new poll (conducted by the Cuba Study Group and Bendixen and Associates), aside from the significant change in general opinion about the concert, was the data from the 50 and over category.
According to the new poll, Cuban-Americans over 49 years old were the largest group who watched the concert, and also the group that most changed their minds about the concert (about 10% more than younger Cubans). And, the most popular response given for the favorable views about the concert was: it "uplifted Cuban people" (51%).
So how did hard-liners in the media respond? As usual, they totally dismissed the poll. Aside from the fact that Radio Mambi generally ignores all facts that conflict with their propaganda goals, they sometimes have some reasons behind their behavior.
1) Radio Mambi hosts have concluded that the Peace without Borders concert was a secretly planned effort by the Obama administration to normalize relations with Cuba. Therefore, it should be viewed as a failed attempt at doing so, and condemned for trying. The new poll is merely another part of the conspiracy to normalize relations.
2) The new poll was conducted by Bendixen and Associates, a polling firm that has no credibility according to the hosts of Radio Mambi. Earlier this week, host Ninoska Perez-Castellon [photo above] cited two reasons: Bendixen polling was inaccurate in one Nicaraguan election, and inaccurate in the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.
She's correct in one example, but lying in the other.
According to Perez-Castellon, Bendixen polling totally missed the mark in 1990 (that's right, almost 20 years ago!) when it predicted an election victory for Daniel Ortega over Violeta Chamorro by 53% to 35%. Chamorro instead won with 55%.
What Perez-Castellon doesn't say is that Bendixen polling, by 1990, had several accurate predictions throughout Latin America. Also, Bendixen was not alone in its flawed data concerning Nicaragua, several other surveys had Ortega as the winner over Chamorro, with only a few polls reporting accurately.* Here's an explanation of what really happened.
Next, Perez-Castellon says that Bendixen polling predicted that John Kerry would win over George W. Bush in the 2004 elections. That's a lie. A review of Florida newspaper articles (via Newsbank) during the 2004 campaign shows that Bendixen polling never predicted a Kerry win (nationally or in Florida), but instead consistently revealed important data about hispanic and Cuban voting [article "Cuban Americans Split on Kerry"]. While Bendixen and Associates worked diligently with Democrats, providing information about changing attitudes within hispanic and Cuban voters, it never predicted a victory for John Kerry.
The only one whose credibility is suspect is Radio Mambi's.
*[Feb. 27, 1990, The Miami Herald, "For Pollsters, Upset Carries a Bitter Sting" by Tom Fiedler.]
After the Peace without Borders concert in Cuba, Olga Tañon was back in Miami the next day and made a television appearance on Maria Elvira Live!, MegaTVs popular Spanish-language political talk show program (Tañon also appeared on another MegaTV program).
The picture above shows an emotional Maria Elvira after handing Olga Tañon a bouquet of flowers and thanking her for Sunday's performance [video]. Maria Elvira is immediately overwhelmed by emotions, crying and thanking Tañon "because you mentioned Miami, because you mentioned el exilio." She also gave thanks on behalf of her mother, a Cuban exile.
For weeks Maria Elvira Live! has produced an endless amount of programming analyzing the Peace without Borders concert. It was typical to see on her show some of the most hard-line figures in Miami opposed to the concert, but at some point Maria Elvira herself began seeing beyond the rhetoric, and saw hope. Hope that Cubans (exiled or not) would enjoy a wonderful concert, and maybe decide that it was time for change.
Time will tell what change brings.
Another very interesting thing also happened last night. Maria Elvira again interviewed Miguel Saavedra, leader of Vigilia Mambisa who organized a protest in Miami on Sunday, where they destroyed music CDs by participants of the Peace without Borders concert.
Saavedra was on the defensive [video]. He mentioned that it was not time for Cuban exiles to change, that they need to stay militant, and it is the others ("the leftists") that need to change. Saavedra even believed that the Peace without Borders was nothing special because hundreds of thousands of Cubans would have gone to any other concert held in Cuba. According to Saavedra, Cubans have "nothing else to do" and would pack a concert festival because "its the new thing."
Saavedra is revealing his great ignorance here. There was another large music concert not long ago in Cuba in 2005 by the rock band Audioslave. That concert was described as "historic" gathering about 50-60 thousand young Cubans, but if we go by Saavedra's logic, then that concert should have gathered a similar number of concert-goers as Sunday's concert because Cubans have "nothing else to do" and "its the new thing." I personally believe Saavedra revealed his utter contempt for the people of Cuba.
Anway, despite Saavedra being constantly on the defensive (taking many opportunities to describe Maria Elvira as a communist, or a friend of communists), near the end of the interview Saavedra actually proposes the idea of changing the tactics of Vigilia Mambisa! He says that instead of smashing CDs, they should maybe consider aerial banners. Maria Elvira loved the idea. And, I give her a lot of credit for trying to explain to Saavedra how his protests continue to give the Cuban exile community a very bad image in the media.
But, I'm sure Saavedra knows that he needs to change his tactics, especially becuase of recent pressures, such as last month's Bendixen/Cuba Study Group poll [PDF] showing 74% of Cuban-Americans disapproving of Vigilia Mambisa smashing CDs, disapproval (but not condemnation) from leaders within the Cuban exile community, and Sunday's counter-protest from young Cubans at the Versailles Restaurant.
Also, Saavedra most likely knows how poorly Miami has viewed his recent protests. Here's a good video (in Spanish) showing random interviews with Cubans in Miami (two male adults, two female adults, one young woman) all showing their satisfaction with Sunday's Peace concert, one saying that it "shut up" those who opposed the concert, and two saying that those who smashed CD's (Vigilia Mambisa) might be (to put it nicely) a few card short of a full deck.
Now, the big question is: can Maria Elvira get Armando Perez Roura to change?
No, that's not Val Prieto from the Babalu blog in the photo. Instead, Prieto thanked Juanes [screenshot] for organizing the Peace without Borders concert and this morning wrote:
"Gracias Juanes! You fucking communist son of a bitch."
Oh, those boys at Babalu!
I mean Prieto got all excited this morning that he forgot to copy the last paragraph of Yoani Sanchez' latest blog post. In that last paragraph she writes:
"If we see the performance of this September 20th as the dress rehearsal for a concert we’ll have one day, then we must congratulate those who participated. Even if there isn’t another, and the Plaza again takes on its solemnity and grayness, at least this Sunday afternoon we live something different. In a place where the division between us has been systematically sown, Juanes—to the setting of the sun—has shouted, 'For one Cuban family!'"
I'm sure he'll correct the error.
Well, if you want to see what the Cuban people thought about the concert, here are two good videos [1 and 2] I found on YouTube. Or, you can go to Babalu blog and view Humberto Fontova's latest post comparing the concert audience to a herd of animals.
You might have also read some reports about a protest in Little Havana yesterday. Yup, Vigilia Mambisa was at it again. But, this time they might have met their match. Carlos Miller has the scoop.
But, if you want to see some video, click here and here. Basically, what happened yesterday was that Vigilia Mambisa and its supporters died out (not literally) once their demonstration permit expired into the evening. Many anti-Juanes protesters soon left, leaving many pro-Juanes demonstrators at the Versailles Restaurant (which grew after the end of the television broadcast of the Peace concert). The crowd numbers were quite large, according to Miller and this local reporter for CBS4 news.
To all the artists who performed at the Peace without Borders concert in Cuba. Thank you for showing us the power of music and peace.
[View the final emotional minutes of the concert here.]
[Photo by Reuters: Miguel Bosé, Olga Tañon, and Juanes (the three main sponsors of the event) embrace in the final minutes of the Peace without Borders concert in Cuba.]
If you have DirectTV or Dish Network then you are in luck. The Peace without Borders concert will be broadcast live on both services on the HITN channel [check here for the channel].
The HITN website also looks like it will be streaming the concert, so you can check there tomorrow. The Yahoo! Musica website will definitely be streaming the concert. And, according to Carlos Miller, the NBC Miami website will also be streaming the concert live.
Several, news networks will be covering the event, including CNN. Locally, Telemundo 51 and Univision 23 are both in Cuba already covering the events. Also, AmericaTeVe, the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald will be collaborating to bring special coverage on the concert.
You can listen to that special coverage on local radio at Caracol 1260AM.
Concert begins at 2pm ET.
[Photo (sign says "Concert of the Century") by Reuters]
The local Spanish media in Miami loves Gorki. Not necessarily because they like punk rock, but because they like his anti-Castro message. Gorki has recently appeared repeatedly on local Spanish news interviews (such as Telemundo 51), Spanish talk show interviews (like Maria Elvira Live), and (surprise, surprise) Radio Marti. In the case of the upcoming Peace without Borders concert in Cuba, Gorki has publicly stated that he supports the event, but believes that the artists, especially Juanes, should inform himself about the Cuban government (because Juanes is naive of course), and place blame on the Castro brothers for the lack of peace in Cuba.
This is music to the ears of the local Spanish media.
But, Gorki honestly despises the Castro brothers. And, its understandable because he's been incarcerated, I believe, three times in Cuba for his "deviant" behavior, and he attributes it all to the repressive machinery of the Cuban government.
Before his arrival to Miami, Gorki had been living and working in Mexico, since April or May, as a waiter in his sister's restaurant (he was shocked that the Cuban government gave him an exit visa). Both his older sister and mother live in Mexico now. He has a 13 year old daughter still in Cuba.
It is also being reported that Gorki's "Freedom Tour" is being sponsored by an organization called the "Global Cuba Solidarity Movement." Looking at their website, this organization seems to have been dormant for about a year since the last Cuba Solidarity Day (which got plenty of attention from the Bush Administration). Looking at the links they provide on their "library" page, you'll get an indication to whom this organization is mostly directed towards (yes, the Babalu blog is there).
Speaking of the Babalu blog, when "founding editor" Val Prieto found out that Gorki was coming to Miami, he got all excited and posted the press release with this title: "Hey Juanes, F*CK YOU!" [screenshot]
Oh, those boys!
Anyway, another excited fan of Gorki's was at today's press conference: Telemundo 51 reporter Fausto Malave. Malave loves to give leading questions, especially when he knows what the answer is gonna be. (Last year, Malave asked former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez in Miami what he thought should be done about Hugo Chavez. Perez replied exactly as he did four years before.) Today at the press conference, Malave (innocently, of course) asked Gorki [video]:
"What do you wish on the Castro brothers?"
Gorki immediately laughed at the question because he knew what Malave was doing. Gorki eventually responded saying: "It so awful to say, but if the freedom of a country depends on the death of a tyrant, then, of course, so be it welcomed." This reply by Gorki also made it on the airwaves of Radio Mambi.
Welcome to Miami Gorki. It's an entirely different propaganda game here.
--- [Update]---
Gorki made his local television debut last night on Mano Limpia with Oscar Haza [video]. The two other guests on with Gorki shared identical views with him concerning the Peace concert tomorrow in Cuba.
Also, this afternoon Gorki appeared before a large crowd of his fans in Little Havana. The Free Cuba Foundation has some video of the event on their YouTube channel.
Gorki was surprised by the large turnout, and looks like he signed and sold plenty of CDs [video]. There's even video of Gorki playing one of his songs dedicated to Raul Castro [video]. One line in the songs goes: "Raul you are a phony, there's no one that can tolerate you."
You can view lots of music videos of Gorki Aguila and his band, Porno for Ricardo, here.
Some people in Miami believed that the Peace without Borders concert failed because the very next day Cubans weren't protesting in the streets as a result. That was an absurd argument. Musicians only have the power to present different views and feelings about life, and therefore can only create gradual changes within a larger culture.
