Cuban musician Arnaldo Rodríguez affirmed that he feels free in Cuba and that he was never “asked what he thinks” to let him go on stage.
In an interview for RT magazine, the singer and director of Arnaldo y su Talismán said that “the musicians who carry the masses, the most popular, are the ones most attacked” by the Cuban opposition in exile.
“I’ve always said that if I have to define myself politically in front of someone in order to maintain my music market, if I want to make my music, I’m not free. And since I live in Cuba and am free, they don’t ask me about my rights.” “Nobody asked me about my political affiliation to go on a stage, to be able to sing, to be able to appear on television,” he commented.
He states that certain groups in Miami test you and “if you disagree with my interests, I try to attack your personality and blur what an artist from the island has achieved.”
He admits that the criticism initially affected him, but “I have hardened and it no longer affects me much from an emotional point of view. I respect each artist’s criteria on political issues, sometimes I regret listening to colleagues I admire.” “Many project something they don’t know,” he said.
The musician does not question the fact that other artists from exile are prohibited from performing on the island precisely because of their ban political projection.
There is the iconic case of Celia Cruz, who is still not heard on Cuban radio stations.
Rodríguez admits he has lost his audience, but attributes this to campaigns staged from Miami to confuse the island’s “weak minds.” However, he does not mention that his position began to bother certain groups of supporters after he justified or mocked the regime’s repression following the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021 Protests in Caimanera last May, against hunger and long power outages.
The regime has rewarded his support, as have other artists who defend the system implemented in Cuba. A few months ago it was Rodríguez, Buena Fe and Ray Fernández awarded the National Vanguard award for the regime they defend, for its “artistic and economic results.”