Duo Gente de Zona has joined the likes of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Yotuel, Willy Chirino, and others in the “Free the Children” campaign to stand in solidarity with Cuban political prisoners.
More than 20 children between the ages of 14 and 17 — who are currently awaiting trial or have been released on bail or house arrest — were imprisoned for taking the streets to demand freedom, among other things, during protests and rallies in Cuba back in July.
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“Those Cuban children have suffered a tremendous atrocity,” Gente de Zona’s Randy and Alexander explain in a video posted to their Instagram Tuesday (Feb. 22). “They have suffered psychological abuse and they are subject to unjust sentences. Cubans were arrested for demanding respect for their fundamental freedom.”
Last summer, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in what became known as the largest demonstration in the island’s six decades of communism to protest power outages and food and medicine shortages. The rallies were in part set off by Cuba’s deteriorating economic situation that was intensified by the pandemic that’s cut off tourism dollars.
“This is a call from us as Cuban artists. Please join us,” they said, asking fans to sign a petition organized by the nonprofit organization Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba to “help free the Cuban children political prisoners” who are being accused by the Cuban government of “sedition, public disorder, and contempt,” according to the website.
Other artists who have joined the campaign and have asked their millions of followers on social media to sign the petition are the Estefans, who earlier in February posted on social media about the situation.
“I am speaking out as a mother who has children living in freedom, not like the 23 minors that are being held in Cuban jails simply for expressing their desire for food and freedom,” Gloria said in her video. “They are giving them sentences that are almost 18 years, and this is simply unacceptable. How do you explain to a child that is committing no crime other than asking for what they should be owed.”
Watch Gente de Zona and Gloria Estefan’s videos below: