Juanes Stirs Up Tired Old Cold War Debates

Colombian singer has received death threats

We’ve come a long way since certain members of the Cuban exile community would bomb shops that they deemed sympathetic to the Castro regime.

Now they use Twitter to get their message across.

But knowing the history of violence in the Cuban exile community, Colombian rock singer Juanes is not taking any chances.

He now has police protection outside his Key Biscayne home.

And he insists he will go on with his concert in Havana that has created such an uproar.

The concert is scheduled for September 20 at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, the municipal plaza where Fidel Castro gives his fiery speeches in front of millions of Cubans.

And joining him on stage will be Cuban singer Silvio Rodríguez and the Cuban band Los Van Van, who created their own controversy when they visited Miami in 1999 and concert-goers were pelted with eggs, rocks and bottles by angry exiles.

Besides the social media threats, some Cuban exiles gathered at Versailles (where else?) and started smashing Juanes CD to show their displeasure.

The anti-Castro group Vigilia Mambisa, which is responsible for most of the protests at Versailles, also burned a black shirt which was supposed to symbolize one of Juanes’ song (La Camisa Negra).

The shocking part about all this is that some Cuban exiles denounced Vigilia Mambisa as acting no different than Nazis or Communists in the shirt-burning, CD-smashing demonstration, according to Miami blogger Mambi Watch.

But that just prompted Vigilia Mambisa leader Miguel Saavedra to denounce that anybody who was not in agreement with him must be a communist.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us