Sophia Michaels
On July 11, 2021, Cuban protesters took to the streets chanting “Patria y Vida,” or “Homeland and Life,” in one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations against the Cuban regime in decades. The slogan was taken from a hip-hop song released earlier that year by Yotuel Romero, the Afro-Cuban leader of the rap group Orishas, Descemer Bueno, Gente de Zona, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Osorbo, and DJ El Funky. The song went on to win two Latin Grammy Awards for song of the year and best urban song, becoming a symbol of victory and empowerment for the Cuban people.
Now, two years after the song’s release, a documentary titled “Patria y Vida: The Power of Music” has been released. The film documents the creation process of the song, its impact both in Cuba and around the world, and the devastating consequences that came to those who bravely played or protested with the song on the island. It was produced by Romero and directed and written by his wife Beatriz Luengo, a Spanish actress and singer.
The protests back in July 2021 were born from a shortage of food and medicine on the island amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the loss of liberties such as freedom of speech and independent art. People were calling for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down. The title of the song “Patria y Vida” was an idea Romero and Luengo came up with one day in their kitchen, as it directly contradicted former Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s slogan of “Patria o Muerte,” or “country land or death.”
The song was released on Feb. 16, 2021. Within hours of the July 2021 protests, it was banned from being played in Cuba. The Cuban government also took down the internet across the entire island. Cuban rights groups reported that over 1,400 protesters were detained by Cuban authorities. Diubis Laurencio Tejada, a 36-year-old singer died during a clash between protestors and police. Maykel Osorbo and El Funky, two of the artists on the “Patria y Vida” song who still lived on the island, were also arrested. Osorbo remains in jail today.
Romero and Luengo are now bringing the documentary to numerous film festivals to help inform the rest of the world of what’s happening on the island. They hope it will serve as a tool to secure the country’s freedom, while also highlighting the racism and discrimination that exists on the island.
“It was not a protest, it was a rebellion,” Romero says. “Because you see most of the people in this rebellion were Black people. Black people have suffered in Cuba for decades and decades. And also you see ‘Patria y Vida’ was six Black people singing.”
The documentary reveals the poor conditions many Cubans on the island live under — Black Cubans and Cubans of African descent especially — as well as footage of Cuban police officers breaking into people’s homes, beating and arresting individuals simply for playing the song. Romero and Luengo wanted people outside of the island to see and understand that what’s happening in Cuba is beyond a political issue; it is a human rights issue.
“I also think it’s very important to break all the propaganda that the government and the dictatorship have created for decades, that Cuba is a paradise,” Romero says. “Cuba is not a paradise. Cuba is a big prison.”
