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“Open-mike Night” celebrates freedom of expression
As part of Human Rights week, USINT held an “open-mike night” December 12 at the PAO residence in which Cubans were encouraged to exercise their basic right to self-expression in ways both loud and clear.
Twelve groups of Cuban performers, including traditional musicians, folk dancers, modern dancers, rappers, reggaetoners, and an 18-member salsa band, took the stage to delight an audience of 150 with the rhythms and sounds of Cuba.
Performers and attendees alike received T-shirts imprinted with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
The event attracted twice the audience of the previous one in the spring, where musicians were first gratified to learn that the USG would allow them the space to perform freely without fear of censorship or of being bombarded with political messages.