Identidades in English No 4, December 2014 | Page 64

“They gave absolutely no reason. It all came
down the way we stated in our declaration. One
day, we went to do what we always had to do: visit
government offices, meet with the MININT, in order to guarantee there would be police, food, water, sanitation, etc. The Provincial Recreation
and Culture Commission director in the province
of Mayabeque, Noel Soca, met us at the park and
said: ‘Look. You guys have nothing more to do
with this. The festival is going to be organized by
institutions, the State, the Ministry of Culture.
This comes from Esteban Lazo.’ We asked him if
he was talking about our festival, and he answered affirmatively. We’re not really sure why
this has happened.”5
At the end of the interview, Matos confirmed:
“This year (2011), the Rotilla festival is cancelled; we’re not going to do it. But next year we
will do it. Furthermore, we’ll do it with permission from the authorities.” The official reaction
to MatraKa’s lawsuit was to rename the event
“Verano en Jibacoa” [Summer in Jibacoa].

rap and create a meeting place for all the active,
isolated, and anonymous rappers throughout the
island.
The festival’s sixth iteration, which was directed
by Soandry (a rapper with the Hermanos de
Causa project), was denied use of the location
that had worked so well the year before: the América theater. The producers found a circus tent belonging to the group “La Islas del Coco” in Playa,
which could hold 2,000 people, but the Vice President of the Music Institute informed them that
they could hold the event only at the Avenida theater, a much more limited space with technical
problems, designated for all “uncomfortable” artists.
The response to this was a protest organized by
producers and rappers in front of the Cuban Institute of Music. The authorities found it necessary
to back off, but incessant friction and rough spots
cause distrust, weariness, etc. Many fear that
Puños Arriba, the most successful hip-hop event
in the history of Cuban rap, will cease to exist.

Puños Arriba [Raised Fists] Festival
MatraKa also coordinates the largest hip hop even
in Cuba, the only competitive festival that is also
independent: “Puños Arriba” [Raised Fists],
which started seven years ago, is trying to establish an internal market for underground Cuban

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New projects should learn from the old (discontinued) ones, and not ignore that the sand upon
which they build has already been swept away by
the tide. Yet, dreams are for the young, the very
substance of their confidence. They acknowledge