Specialist Rosa Marquetti warns that what happened “adds another chapter to the history of the application of political commissioner methods within Cuban culture.”
14ymedio, Madrid, 17 October 2025 — / The Celia Cruz centenary gala, organized this Sunday, October 19th, by the El Público theater group at the Cuban Art Factory (FAC) in Havana, has been canceled. The National Center for Popular Music announced this Thursday in a brief message that did not even mention the name of the Queen of Salsa.
“The programming subdirectorate of the National Center for Popular Music informs that the performance by the theater group El Público, scheduled for this Sunday the 19th at 8:30 p.m. in Nave 3 of the Fábrica de Arte Cubano, will not take place,” were the words chosen by the state agency.
Actor Danielito Tri-tri (Daniel Triana), who is part of the cast of the show, reproduced the official publication, attacking: “The tribute show to Celia has been censored, thanks to the same people as always.”
This Friday, Rosa Marquetti, a specialist in the life and work of the Guarachera de Cuba, who was born on 21 October 1925, commented on the cultural authorities’ decision in a long post, feeling “more pain than anger” about the incident and titling her text: Celia Cruz: the brilliance of a name in the face of cultural indigence. In it, she says that the “prohibition” of the tribute that El Público and the FAC intended to carry out “adds another chapter to the history of censorship and the application of political curatorial methods within Cuban culture.”
The musicologist reports that “some of those involved in this heartfelt initiative, after days of rehearsals and work, report incidents of personal summons, irrevocable orders, and threats anticipating negative consequences for those who dare to disobey,” although none of those affected have yet published details of this pressure.
“They’ve been afraid of that voice for 60 years, trembling with fear at the mere mention or writing of its name.”
Likewise, she criticizes the “erratic statement from a bureaucratic entity that has nothing to do with the performing arts,” in which “they don’t even mention Celia Cruz’s name.” Regarding this, Marquetti adds: “They have been fearing that voice for 60 years, trembling with fear at the mere mention or writing of her name, terrified of her extraordinary power to summon people, knowing full well that her cry of “sugar!” and her joy are far more compelling and convincing than the bitterness and karmic negativity with which they impose orders, deal out blows, and threaten with the only thing they have: the force of the powers that be.”
Those same ones, the specialist continues, persist in trying “unsuccessfully” to tarnish Celia Cruz’s career, “attacking her, overwhelming her, inflicting upon her the misogyny and root racism that has characterized many of the decisions and policies in the cultural sphere, while she stood tall in the world as the greatest representation of all things Cuban, the most globally known, the most beloved, the most applauded, the most honored.”
They don’t forgive her, Marquetti explains, “her cimarronaje [‘runaway-slaveness’] in defending and displaying her right to think differently and act accordingly,” despite the fact that “the world today doesn’t remember, and many don’t even know, what her political stance was: they only remember her music, her voice, and her Cubanness, that is, her wonderful art.”
Directed by Carlos Díaz and written by Norge Espinosa, the show, announced by El Público, also featured the La Mansión Castillo restaurant. It was scheduled to take place in Nave 3 of the FAC. It would feature actors Estrellita, Lucho Calzadilla, Freddy Maragoto, Roberto Romero, Georbis Martínez, Brian Pérez, Chai Deivis Torres, and the aforementioned Danielito Tri-tri.
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