Musician With Castro Tattoo Denounces Pressures Against His Family in Cuba

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14ymedio, Havana, 24 August 2019 — Yoandys Lores González, known in the musical world as Baby Lores, denounced through his social networks this Friday that the police are harassing his relatives in Cuba in retaliation for the artist’s critical opinions about the Island’s regime. “After the statements that I made yesterday on the program with the Pichy Boys the repression of my family began. Since the program aired they have mounted a constant vigilance outside my house in Havana,” said the musician from Cienfuegos, who, until two years ago had an image with the face of Fidel Castro tattooed on his shoulder.

“My brother left on a motorcycle and 50 meters away he was arrested. They checked everything as if he were a criminal, mistreated him and threatened him,” said the singer.

“Our country needs a change now. It needs an urgent change,” he said in a recent video. The artist urged Cubans to demand “freedom” and gave as an example the recent demonstrations in Puerto Rico, where thousands of people demanded and achieved the resignation of the island’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, marked by corruption scandals.

“Look what happened in Puerto Rico, there is no need to engage in terrorism, I am not encouraging the people to take to the streets to be hurt,” he said.

Lores, who lives in Miami, also denounced that the authorities had prevented him from singing on the Island. “I have just been legally suspended in Cuba, this means that my staff has just been taken away from me at the ’Benny Moré’ [company], a group that’s been with me for more than 15 years, “said the musician.

“To change for good is not a betrayal (…) I was wrong for many years. Many years with the wrong doctrine, but the time came to say enough,” he said in a Facebook broadcast.

The “Benny More” Marketing Company of Music and Entertainment is a state agency that includes along its artists groups such as Bamboleo and Latin Fever. Under Cuban laws, Lores cannot appear on the Island if he is not under the auspices any state institution.

“It seems that it is because of the positions that I have had lately, because of the statements that I have made, to denounce the things that are wrong that are done in our country and to open my eyes. They always take these measures, which is to remove, that is to suspend, that is to threaten,” he added.

“Thank God I had the opportunity to know this great country, and this great country gave me the opportunity to know what democracy is, freedom of expression. It changed me,” he said.

Lores said he does not intend to “shut up” or give in to pressure from the Cuban police.

“I am here because it is like being in Cuba. I feel Cuban in this town. Sometimes I do not even realize that I am in a foreign country. That is something that we Cubans in Miami have,” he said.

The creator of successful songs such as La CaperucitaDéjala Ir and La Mujer del Pelotero, Lores remains one of the most broadcast Cuban interpreters on Latin American stations in the Cuban-American market.

The independent journalist, Regina Coyula, noted on Facebook her astonishment at the change in the musician and recalled a text that he dedicated in 2010. ” Baby Lores will have brand name clothes, apparel, even those tattoos that are really serious will be indelible, but something very valuable and timely is missing: a clock, a clock, yes, because the time of ’I believe’ is in the past,” he satirized.

The reporter made reference to the video clip Creo (I Think) where Lores has a tattoo on his left shoulder with the face of the former president. The artist justified the action as “a tribute, because he is a person who has given many things and has endured a lot,” said the musician, who in the music video of the song swears fidelity to Castro.

In 2017, in a studio in Miami, Lores covered his tattoo and explained his decision after enactment of legislation in Cuba, following the death of Castro, in which the use of his image in public places is prohibited. The law was supported by more than 600 delegates from the National Assembly of Popular Power.

Now, “in view of the information circulating on social networks, it seems that Baby Lores managed to get in sync,” adds Coyula.

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