We still have not recovered in the Cuban collective memory from that little blond boy with glasses who shouted with his neck veins about to burst: “Fidel! Fidel!” in the open stands; but now and then, we are bombarded on social media, with sublime and vile premeditation, by images of other children who, incited by their elders, shout speeches or phrases or poems or songs that, without a doubt, they do not truly understand.
Now Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, the former spy of the Red Avispa, and other spokespersons appear to convince us that yes, revolutionary poetry saves everything, and that the children of Cuba, amidst a blackout, spontaneously sing with the greatest enthusiasm, “Me acosa el carapálida” by Silvio Rodríguez.
"The 'pale-faced' may block our oil, but they cannot block our joy!" asserted the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), referring to the fuel entry restrictions imposed on the island by the Trump Administration.
In the video shared on Facebook, featuring members of the children's theater company La Colmenita, part of the refrain of the song stands out: “The land wants to take me away, / the water wants to take me away, / the air wants to take me away / and only fire,/ and only fire / I will give...”.
And any internet user —while still recognizing the metaphorical beauty of the lyrics by Silvio, which will greatly transcend the political lukewarmness of its author— might be hit with many questions head-on. This occurred in the hundreds of comments among the forum participants.
Do Cuban children —in general, not just those from a theater group— really memorize and sing “Me acosa el carapálida” to play, have fun, enjoy music, or disconnect during their leisure time or in the dreadful moments of dealing with power outages? Do they sing that complex poetic piece instead of “Vinagrito,” “La vaca Lola,” or “El ratón vaquero”?
Do you fully understand what verses like: "The pale-faced one haunts me with vile deceit, / with colorful beads trading one for a thousand. / He haunts me with the elixir of prostitution, / he haunts me with the lost glory of his God" could mean?
Or is it that it is necessary to inject them through every means with the political slogan against the "pale-faced," in an equation where this is equivalent to the enemy from the North, equivalent to the President of the United States, equivalent to the "aptrid" counter-revolutionaries, and so on down the hill to "pin pon out, down with the worm?"
Such a "subtle" musical selection seems to follow the same logic according to which children who can barely write are required to repeatedly produce sentences, paragraphs, and compositions in elementary school about the "invincible Commander in Chief" and the "undefeated heroes of the Revolution," always aligned with the historical narrative of those same immaculate, invincible warriors.
Instead of "setting fire" to the enemy, Cuban children should think and play around ideas and values that are pacifist, more universal, commendable, and appropriate for their age, such as friendship, companionship, and honesty.
And if they are going to push them -skipping stages- to those levels of information for which they lack years, maturity, and education, have those who paint the narrative of the “carapálidas” harassers ever mentioned that there are many other carapálidas within the country, harassing, destroying, ruining the air, the land, and the water, and have been doing so for decades?
"What are the parents of those children doing with things like this?" questioned the forum user Ismael Villalobos. Another internet user summarized: "The doctrine continues... manipulating children for political purposes is abusive and regrettable. The dictatorship is beyond description now."
Ah, dear singing teachers, I hope "your aesthetics, your angle, your style, your knowledge" will be permanently forgotten. And that there will be many other joys for children in a different Cuba to sing about.
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