'Your evil revolution': How a reggaeton anthem inspired Cuba protests
The movement began with a melody, Patria y Vida—Homeland and Life. That is the title of a collaborative song released this February by a group of Cuban hip-hop and reggaeton artists—a song that speaks volumes and has evolved into a rallying cry for change. Thousands took to the streets in big and small towns across Cuba Sunday to utter those words, making for the biggest outburst of a national protest in decades. Hundreds more gathered in Miami in a show of solidarity.
“Patria y Vida,” Cubans chanted in videos that went viral and served as a bullhorn for more to join as the day progressed. They demanded freedom, access to COVID-19 vaccines, food, an end to misery. The crowds comprised a cross-section of the population, but many of the faces in posts shared on social media were young, like the singers who wrote the song—which contains a tirade against a government that has maintained a firm grip since the late Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959.
Back then, the government issued its own three-word decree, Patria o Muerte—"homeland or death." These 2021 lyrics are an angry response to that old revolutionary slogan.
No más mentiras
Mi pueblo pide libertad, no más doctrinas
“No more lies. My people ask for freedom, not more doctrines." A video accompanying the song's YouTube release earlier this year was accompanied by images of smaller acts of protests squashed by violent arrests. “Let's no longer shout ‘homeland or death,’ but ‘homeland and life,'" the singers plea, "and start building what we dream of, what they destroyed.”
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/cuba-protests