Fans raise a banner wtih the cover picture of the Cuban music duo Buena Fe's latest album Morada. Photo: Prensa Latina.
The popular Cuban music band Buena Fe was forced to cancel two of its concerts in Spain after the owners of the concert venues received threats from anti-Cuba fascists.
“We are sad to announce that the concerts in Salamanca and Zamora have been suspended,” the Cuban music duo announced on its Facebook page. “Under the pretext of defending democracy, fascist harassment and threats have been unleashed against the owners of the venues, and those threats have been more powerful than the songs. A thousand apologies to those who had purchased tickets.”
Buena Fe is on tour in Spain to promote its new album Morada, and had already filled venues in Madrid and Bilbao.
On May 12, there was an attempted boycott during the Cuban duo’s concert at the Galileo Galilei hall in Madrid, led by the well-known counterrevolutionary Lucio Enríquez Nodarse. It was a brief incident, lasting just a few seconds before Enríquez was escorted out of the venue by the security, amidst booing from the audience against the provocateur and unanimous applause for Buena Fe.
On May 13, in Bilbao, there were numerous threats on social media against Bira Aretoa, a cultural association in whose premises the concert was held as part of a solidarity event against the US blockade of Cuba, organized by Euskadi-Cuba and the Cuban associations Sierra Maestra and Desembarco del Granma. However, the Bira Aretoa management remained firm and hundreds of people participated in all the day’s events, including the sold-out Buena Fe concert.
That day, a counter-revolutionary group tried to hold a protest at the doors of the Bira Hall, but the authorities denied permission for the rally, since, on that day and at that time, a rally against the murderous US blockade against the Cuban people had been requested and authorized. In the words of a spokesperson of the organizer Euskadi-Cuba, “the counter-revolutionaries wanted to restrict the artistic freedom of a Cuban group and to provoke so many people that were in solidarity with Cuba on the day. By holding our rally we avoided a public order problem, which is what we believe they were looking for. They got nothing out of it, and the day was a total and absolute success, a day of peace, culture and solidarity. One of them even walked in front of our rally and filmed us with a cell phone, trying to provoke us. But they got nothing except the contempt of people like us who consider the Yankee blockade against the Cuban people as a gigantic crime and a massive violation of human rights.”
However, after the concerts in Madrid and Bilbao, the threats intensified, and the owners of the venues in Salamanca and Zamora, where the upcoming concerts had been announced, gave in to the pressure.
According to the solidarity activist from Euskadi-Cuba, “this is the usual practice of those with the slogan ‘Patria y Vida’ [Homeland and Life, a counter-revolutionary slogan], who claim to support freedom, democracy and human rights for Cuba, but this is pure and simple fascism. They are lackeys and bootlickers of the Empire.”
The State Movement of Solidarity with Cuba (MESC), which brings together more than 60 groups from all over Spain, has condemned the counter-revolutionary actions and expressed its full support and solidarity for the music group Buena Fe. MESC encourages all the fans of Buena Fe in Spain to send messages of love and affection to the Cuban musicians.
(Resumen Latinoamericano – English)
bla 11:04 EST
