14ymedio’s Faces of 2019: Dianelys Alfonso, La Diosa, Artist

This year Dianelys Alfonso has promoted a movement in Cuba similar to #MeToo. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 30 December 2019 — The artist Dianelys Alfonso, La Diosa (The Goddess), started a Cuban version of #MeToo this year, after making public her personal history with the musician José Luis Cortés, El Tosco, a history of harassment and sexist violence.

It all started when La Diosa (b. 1981) told a Miami show that she had been beaten and raped by the artist when she was a singer in the group NG La Banda. A week later she denounced threats by El Tosco in reaction to her words. This generated a wave of solidarity and some 300 people signed a document published in June on the YoSíTeCreo (Yes I Believe You) Facebook page, one of the most frequent ways used by others to express their support.

Journalists, feminists, lawyers, actresses, university students, writers, psychologists, researchers and activists all signed the letter, in addition to men like the writer Antón Arrufat, a winner of National Prize for Literature. “Those people who have responded to the hashtag #YoSíTeCreoDiosa have helped me keep going after that day,” the artist said in thanks.

See also:  14ymedio’s 14 Faces of 2019

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