Cuban Communist Silvio Rodríguez, 77, a well-known Latin American artist and advocate for the Cuban Revolution, has released his first album in three years. However, life in Cuba has changed dramatically due to the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
In a rare interview with The Associated Press in his Havana studio, Rodríguez admitted feeling uneasy about singing his old song “Vivo en un país libre cual solo puede ser libre” (I live in a free nation, which can only be free). The economic crisis has resulted in inflation, hunger, and unproductive land, causing hundreds of thousands of Cubans to flee the island for the United States.
Rodríguez’s songs originally inspired an optimistic vision, but this grim situation stands in stark contrast. The question now arises: are Cubans who have recently arrived in the United States here solely for economic reasons?