The Cuban deputy Arnaldo Rodríguez Romero, director of the orchestra Arnaldo y su Talismán, concluded the March of the Combatant People this Friday with a haunting concert held on the Havana waterfront, attended by barely a hundred people.
A video shared on social media captured a moment from the performance of the musician and well-known supporter of the Cuban regime, showcasing an overview of the square and the stage set up for the event.
The lack of audience was more than evident at the venue. However, Rodríguez Romero shared a video on his social media featuring a snippet of his supposed performance from this Saturday, showcasing a larger crowd in attendance.
An analysis of both recordings reveals differences in the setting, costumes, and other aspects of the performances, reinforcing the impression that Deputy Rodríguez Romero distorted reality by sharing images that did not correspond to his appearance at the propaganda event.
The concert lighting is one of those details that raise doubts about whether the deputy distorted reality on his social media. While in his video, there is a structure that brightly illuminates the stage with numerous lights, the footage captured by the social media user does not show such a structure.
Another detail that reveals the propagandist is the clothing. While in the video published by Rodríguez Romero, he is seen wearing a colorful short-sleeved sweater, similar to the audience (who, by the way, were not wearing shirts with propaganda or flags), in the version shared by the user, he is seen dressed in a light brown long-sleeved jacket.
The attendance at the concert by Arnaldo and his Talismán was proportionate to that of the March of the Combatant People called by the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel to conclude the fourth ordinary session of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP).
While the Cuban regime rushed to claim that attendance at the propaganda event exceeded half a million people, images captured by Cuban social media users showed a turnout far lower than that figure, with analysts estimating attendance between 30,000 and 50,000—less than 10% of the number announced by the regime.
The need to lie and the inclination of some towards that art are increasingly evident in the grotesque spectacle left by a decaying regime.
Rodríguez Romero, a deputy from Morón, Ciego de Ávila, is one of those official artists who have chosen to support the narrative of a totalitarian Communist regime, turning a blind eye to the increasing number of voices calling for change in Cuba.
His servility to the corrupt and manipulative elite that rules through violence in Cuba is becoming increasingly evident and represents a departure from the public's support for the musical offerings of an individual who is associated with the oppressors of the dictatorship.
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