The Cuban saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera was unequivocal in an interview with CiberCuba, warning that any transition in Cuba that keeps the same figures of the regime in power is doomed to fail: "The same people who destroyed it will not build it because they don't know how to do it."
The musician made these statements at a time of great tension on the island, following the largest protests recorded since July 11, 2021, and the controversial appearance of Díaz-Canel on NBC denying the existence of political prisoners.
"This has to be a complete power shift," D'Rivera demanded, who also criticized the possibility that figures like Sandro Castro — Fidel's grandson — or "the Crab" could take on leadership roles in a post-regime Cuba: "I hope that Cubans do not accept that. That is unacceptable."
Sandro Castro had given an interview to CNN on March 31 from his apartment in Kohly, Havana, criticizing Díaz-Canel and declaring himself "revolutionary yes, communist no," which sparked outrage due to the contrast between his privileged life — his bar in Havana cost him $50,000 and the crisis that the people are experiencing.
Reflecting on his own journey, D'Rivera revealed what his fate might have been had he stayed in Cuba: "They would probably have imprisoned me, I think. Because I have always been very talkative."
The musician recounted that after being removed from the direction of the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra—because he defended jazz, which the regime labeled as "imperialist music"—he spent two years at home without working, although the state paid him a salary.
"The most humiliating part is that they paid me. They paid me a salary for doing nothing," he remembered.
It was Chucho Valdés and Oscar Valdés who rescued him from obscurity by inviting him to help found Irakere in 1973, against the will of the cultural leadership of the regime: "The people who brought me back and gave me work against the will of the cultural leadership were Chucho and Oscar."
D'Rivera cited the case of the sculptor Fernando Almenares Rivera, known as Nando Obdc, as a vivid example of what could have happened to him had he remained on the island.
The Supreme Court confirmed on April 9 the sentence of five years in prison against Almenares Rivera for "propaganda against the constitutional order," after having been arrested on December 31, 2024 for graffiti deemed counter-revolutionary.
The case of Nando Obdc is not isolated: by the end of 2025, there were 17 artists imprisoned in Cuba, and the number of political prisoners had risen to 1,214 by February 2026.
D'Rivera also lamented the silence of the Cuban artistic community in the face of repression, quoting Martin Luther King: "What hurts me the most is not the evil of the bad people, but the silence of the good".
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