MIAMI — Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila is in the US to promote his group’s latest album, El Disco Rojo (the Red Album). Normally, touring in the United States would not present a problem for a foreign musician. Usually, the worst thing that can happen is that no one pays attention to the band during the tour or buys their album.
But Gorki Aguila is no ordinary musician. He is Cuban-born. He has been jailed twice in his country for his music and political beliefs. Along with a number of musicians in Cuba and elsewhere, the songs his band Porno para Ricardo (Porn for Richard) plays are politically motivated. But, unlike his contemporaries in other countries, who are free to express their opinions through their music, Aguila is paying a harsh price for his views against the Castro regime in Cuba.
Living in Mexico since April 2008, Aguila knows that the political views expressed in his music are considered controversial by the Cuban government. His outspoken tendencies first got him arrested six years ago on what he claims were trumped up drug charges. At the time, because he refused to sign a document the government presented to him stating he would renounce his views, he spent a little more than two years in jail.
“It’s time to call things by name. The bad in our country has a name: It’s called Fidel Castro. It’s called Raul Castro,” Aguila has said, undeterred as to the consequences of his outspoken views.
A campaign poster for Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty after Aguila was arrested last year
His latest arrest came in August 2008, followed by a trial that lasted for two hours, in which he was convicted of “public disorder.” He was fined $28, the equivalent of two months’ salary in Cuba but acquitted of the more serious charge of “social dangerousness” “" a vague charge that the Cuban government is known to throw out frequently against dissidents in Cuba.
Porno para Ricardo formed in 1998, and has continued to mock and attack the Castro regime. Because the band is not allowed to play openly in Cuba, it has been limited to performing and recording its songs in warehouses or private homes.
Though the government’s stance on Aguila and his band is well-known, the band’s followers willingly risk arrest and imprisonment to listen to them. Despite the danger involved, “Porno” continues to be known and admired by a small but dedicated following on the communist island, a following that is beginning to grow. Perhaps it is that by supporting Aguila, his fans are able to express their discontent with the oppressive Cuban regime.
Despite his obvious political stance in opposing the Castro regime, Aguila is vocal about his wishes regarding returning to Cuba. He has a personal motivation “" his 13-year-old daughter still lives on the island.
“I want to return” he said. But, the reality is that may not be possible. Aguila said that the only reason he would be denied re-entry would be because the government feared him.
At the same time that Aguila is making his US tour, rocker Juanes put on a major concert of his own in Havana, called Peace Without Borders. Porno para Ricardo has been banned from ever playing on Cuban soil or being heard on Cuban airwaves, but Juanes still unsuccessfully requested for Aguila to play at his international peace concert. The concert took place on Sunday in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion, an enormous plaza where the government sponsors events (a gigantic picture of Che Guevara peers down from a building bordering the square). Sixteen artists from six countries performed “" including a couple of Cuban ones like Silvio Rodriguez, one of Fidel’s favorite singers.
Although several offered to perform, no Cuban exile musicians were invited to participate, flying in the face of peace, transparency, and openness.
Before the concert took place, Juanes kept insisting that the event was not going to be political, that is was all about peace. He learned soon enough that in Cuba nothing can be “not political,” when he found out that he was being spied upon by government agents “" his every move monitored and reported on (something that Cuban citizens live with every day). Juanes was so furious that he threatened to call off the concert.
“I do believe in Juanes’ good intentions. I just think his intentions are very naive,” Aguila said of the concert.
The concert that was supposed to bring the message of freedom and peace turned shockingly tense on both sides of the Florida Straits.
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