Miami Herald
July 14, 2008
Milanés: 'No queers in the Party'
Nueva-trova singer Pablo
Milanés might not get a warm reception from the
government when he returns to Cuba after his current tour of
Spain. In an interview published Sunday in the
Crónica supplement of the Spanish daily El Mundo, the
artist made a couple of statements that may raise official
hackles. Here are excerpts:Q.: How are things in Cuba?
A.: I grew up in this Revolution, I fight for it and, because I've been very critical of it, I have suffered all kinds of insults, all kinds of injustice. But I'm still here, fighting for it. What I don't understand is how everything stays the same; and that is why, as a revolutionary, I demand changes. Now we have a new opportunity, like the one that arose when the Soviet Union collapsed and we could all have found our own independent path. But we didn't. The people expect changes; the world is expecting them.
Q.: Some promises have been made, apparently sincere.
A.: The government said a year ago that many things were going to change, but we stayed the same and the people are very desperate. Raúl Castro still has not had an opportunity to demonstrate what he thinks, because his brother Fidel is there and still emits his opinions. Owning a telephone and being allowed to enter a hotel is not reform. When it comes to freedoms, we're going backward. We're returning to the past.
Q.: Gay Pride Day was just celebrated throughout the world. Are things improving in Cuba for homosexuals?
A.: I don't know what to tell you. I have many homosexual friends who still complain that they are discriminated against, that they lack opportunities. There are no queers in the [Communist] Party. And those are signs that they are still alienated. To the best of our knowledge, none of the rulers have come out of the closet yet.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.
![[foto de la noticia]](http://estaticos03.cache.el-mundo.net/suplementos/imagenes/2008/07/14/1215900012_0.jpg "[foto de la noticia]")