Jacob Forever, El Chacal, Yotuel, and Ernesto Losa released today the official video for "Puente Libertad", a song that envisions a physical and symbolic bridge between Miami and Havana as a metaphor for a free, modern, and prosperous Cuba.
The topic had been teased on Saturday, March 14 on social media, generating excitement within the Cuban exile community. Just hours after its release, the official video on YouTube had already amassed thousands of views and likes.
The video, recreated with artificial intelligence, visualizes the changes that artists dream of for Cuba: images of an island without restrictions, with people freely traveling between both shores and major chain businesses established in iconic locations in Havana. The song opens with a declaration of principles: "Art cannot be indifferent when a people suffers".
The chorus captures the essence of the theme: "Imagine a bridge / A bridge from Miami to Havana / So people can come / So people can go / Imagine a bridge / A bridge from Miami to Havana / To do whatever I want / Whatever I feel like."
The lyrics do not hold back on vivid images of that dreamed Cuba: "A McDonald's on the Malecón / A Walmart on 23 / A Sedano's in Marianao / And a CVS everywhere". It also evokes the nostalgia of exile with lines like "A new Cuba that no longer weeps for me / Returning to the neighborhood that misses me so much" and a direct reference to pre-revolutionary Cuba: "Like before '59 / Go out early and return by 9".
The official description of the video on YouTube summarizes the message: "Join this dream of a modern, free, and prosperous Cuba. Let us imagine together that bridge that connects us all, where happiness and abundance are the present of our island."
The collaboration brings together three well-known voices with critical stances against the Cuban regime. Yotuel is co-author of "Patria y Vida", the anthem that inspired the largest popular protests in Cuba in decades. El Chacal, a pioneer of Cuban reguetón with over 20 years of career, publicly expressed upon turning 40 in February that his greatest desire is to see a free Cuba. Jacob Forever, known as "El Inmortal", has been building a musical catalog that includes dissenting themes from exile in Miami for more than a decade.
The launch was not without controversy. Manolín, the Salsa Doctor, publicly accused the artists of copying his concept from his song "El Puente" from 1999, which envisioned a similar connection between Cuba and Miami and was censored by Cuban authorities at the time. Manolín defended his idea as original and of "another kind."
"Liberty Bridge" arrives at a time of deep crisis in Cuba, characterized by extended blackouts, widespread shortages, and an unprecedented mass exodus, a context that makes the question with which the song ends particularly resonant: "Can you imagine a bridge called Freedom?"
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