Gloria Estefan” data-eio=”l”/>The Cuban-American producer and singer Gloria Estefan he thought that The oil blockade of the island “is not a way to end the Castro regime” and insisted that “the only sanctions that have been in Cuba have been from the government itself against the Cubans.”
In an interview with EFE within the framework of the 65th edition of the Viña del Mar International Festival, the most important music event in Latin America, Gloria Estefan spoke about the political situation in Cuba and the oppression of Latin American immigrants in the United States.
Regarding the sanctions that Donald Trump’s administration is applying to those countries that give oil to Cuba to block the Díaz-Canel government, Estefan stated that “the only sanctions that have been (are) from the government itself against the Cubans.”
“The blockade that has been created now is because There is no longer any oil coming in from Venezuela and it has made it very difficult for the Cubans. I think: ‘My God… And the ambulances? How can they go to work? They don’t have electricity, they are dark, they can’t cook, the food is bad… My heart breaks,” he lamented.
“I don’t think that this is a way to overthrow any regime. But it has to come from the Cuban people for them to say: Not up to this point, we don’t want any more.’ And that is difficult, because every time something happens they take young prisoners“, he said about censorship and repression in Cuba.
Estefan assured, however, that he observes with concern how the situation on the island is at an unsustainable point for many experts. It is the most critical since the so-called Special Period after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“Cuba still buys support from the United States. It buys from many countries, what happens is that Cuba pays badly. So they cut off businesses. But Cuba receives humanitarian aid. Sometimes they say ‘No, we don’t want it’ so that the people can see that they are not accepting help from anyone,” the singer developed.
Trump administration attacks on Latino migrants
Asked about what the United States government calls the national security strategy of the United States government, in which ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, carries out indiscriminate raids and detentions of Latino migrants in United States territory, Estefan explained that “very horrendous things have happened.”
“Americans murdered, citizens who were simply passing through a space… That was hard,” he explained about the ICE murders of citizens who raised a wave of protests in Minneapolis.
“When I was in college I studied Holocaust literature and I am not comparing what is happening to the Holocaust at all, but the message I took away from that class was that Silence is the greatest danger. “When you see something that is not right, something bad, that is not moral, that goes against the values and the love of what it is to be a human being, you have to speak up and say, ‘I don’t want this, we can’t stand this,'” he added.
Performance at Viña Festival 44 years later
During the press conference, Gloria Estefan explained that her debut in Viña del Mar, 44 years ago, was one of the two times in which His “legs trembled” with nerves.
He returns to the big festival to “continue giving the love” to his audience that they have given him, he explained to EFE.
“The biggest prize for me would be for that audience to come out having fun, enjoying themselves, dancing and having a nice night, forgetting about their problems for a moment,” the artist said about her performance.
Gloria Estefan opens the International Viña Festival on Sunday the 22nd with the first performance of the evening. Then, the Chilean comedian Stefan Kramer and the Italian Matteo Bocelli will continue at the event.
