Vea la letra de la canción Patria y Vida al final.
“Homeland and Life”
A powerful message to the dictatorship that its time is over
Following is an important follow-up to our mailing from yesterday “
Kafka in the tropics, 62 years of broken promises and crimes.”
"Patria y Vida"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP9Bto5lOEQ
*See below the lyrics in English and Spanish (both are
unofficial versions by Cuba Archive).
The song and video clip “
Patria y Vida” (“Homeland and Life”) was released this past Wednesday, February 16th, and in less than 72 hours reached one million hits in YouTube. It is so effective that the Cuban regime's frenzied overreaction can only confirm its weak, anachronistic, state.
The title “Homeland and Life” is a twist on the slogan “Patria o Muerte” (“Homeland or Death”), the longstanding
cri de couer of the Cuban Communist regime. The
slogan was introduced by Fidel Castro on March 5th 1960 in his eulogy for the victims of the explosion of the La Coubre ship in Havana.
“Patria y Vida” is a collaboration of several renowned artists --the duo Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, Yotuel Romero, and rappers Maykel Osorbo and El Funky-- intended as a strong critical message to the Cuban dictatorship. The production, directed by Asiel Babastro, was put together outside Cuba with images from the island and of recent international demonstrations in support of
Movimiento San Isidro (MSI), an artists' group that started in protest of
Decree Law 349 of April 2018 that fiercely controls all artistic activity in Cuba.
Troya, Osorbo, and El Funky filmed inside Cuba in just one day, hiding at a crumbling uninhabited house to avoid alerting State Security. Luis Manuel Otero, the Coordinator of
Movimiento San Isidro, makes an appearance with the Cuban flag that flew at his home, MSI headquarters, last November 26
th, when State Security broke up a hunger strike by 14 Cuban artists and intellectuals to demand freedom for fellow artist
Denis Solís. The 32-year old Solis, who had been ramping up criticism of the regime on social media, was arrested after calling a policeman who entered his home a “coward wrapped in a uniform.” Two days later, on November 11, 2020, he was sentenced to eight months of prison for “disrespect” after a
summary trial lacking basic due process guarantees.
On November 27th, Cuban artists and intellectuals started to gather in front of the Ministry of Culture to demand their rights to freedom of expression. When the group swelled to over 500, the Minister promised a dialogue, which soon led to the demonization of the artists by the regime and increased persecution and repression.
The MSI has brought together a brave and diverse group (by gender, race, and background) of young artists and activists not from traditional opposition groups that increasingly interprets the frustrations, demands, and hopes of Cubans of all ages and walks of life. Its popular support inside and outside Cuba has been growing and it has received international media attention. Among others,
The Economist ran a December 3, 2020
story and
The Wall Street Journal’s dedicated a December 20, 2020 column titled
“Cuba’s San Isidro Uprising."
Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, has gone ballistic over the song. It published
a front-page rebuke and
several articles attacking the piece and the artists. Even Cuban President
Miguel Díaz Canel took to Twitter to defend and glorify the slogan “Homeland or Death.”
“Patria y Vida” is a fitting hymn for freedom that Cubans so urgently need. So, please share it; let’s get it quickly to its first billion views!
Lyrics for “Homeland and Life”
*Unofficial translation from Spanish by Cuba Archive.
Note: The reference in the lyrics to "59" is to the year 1959, when the Revolution (Castro regime) came to power, and to the "double two" is to the year 2020 (the double two also refers to a domino tile with equal numbers on each half).
And you are my siren song
Because your voice takes away my sorrows
This feeling is already stale
You hurt me so much even though you’re far away
Today I invite you to walk through my communal houses
So you can see what your ideals are worth
We are human although we don’t think alike
Let's not treat or harm ourselves like animals
This is my way of telling you
My people cry and I feel their voice
You, five nine; me, double two
Sixty years in a locked domino game
Much fanfare for Havana’s five hundred
While at home, the pots have no food
What are we celebrating if people are in a hurry
trading Che Guevara and Martí for hard currency?
Everything has changed, nothing is the same
Between you and me there's an abyss
Advertising a paradise in Varadero
While mothers cry for their children who\ve left
It's over. You, five nine; me, double two
It's over. Sixty years in a locked domino game
Look, it's over. You, five nine; me, double two
It's over now. Sixty years in a locked domino game
We are artists, we are sensitivity
The true story, not the one told deceitfully
We are the dignity of a whole people trampled on
at gunpoint and with words that still mean nothing
No more lies, my people ask for freedom
No more doctrines
Let’s no longer shout "Homeland and Death"
but rather "Homeland and Life"
And start building what we dream of,
what they've destroyed with their hands
May blood not continue flowing for wanting to think differently
Who told you that Cuba belongs to you if my Cuba belongs to all my people?
It's over. Your time is up, silence is broken
It's over. Laughter is over and weeping is here
It's over. And we're not afraid, the deception is over
It's over. For sixty-two, causing harm
We live there with the uncertainty of a planted past
Fifteen friends, we are ready to die
We raise the flag as the regime continues to repress
Anamely Ramos, firm with her poetry
Omara Ruíz Urquiola, giving us the breath of life
They broke down our door, violated our temple
And the world is aware that the San Isidro Movement remains firm
We continue just the same,
State Security forcing the prism
Which makes me indignant,
It’s the end of the enigma
That's your evil revolution
I'm funky-style, here's my signature
You’re leftovers, there’s nothing left, you’re already getting off
The people got tired of enduring
We await a new dawn
It's over. You, five nine; me, double two
It's over. Sixty years in a locked domino game
Look, it's over. You, five nine; me, double two
It's over now. Sixty years in a locked domino game.
Homeland and Life!
Homeland and Life!
Homeland and Life!...
See below the lyrics in Spanish and additional links to news on this matter.
