The Cuban content creator Mary Lenia Pérez Cazorla published a video that moved thousands of people inside and outside of Cuba. It showed "Muñeco," an iconic street musician from Santa Clara, singing while sitting on the ground, with a sad expression and without his guitar.
The reel posted on Instagram is actually the second part of a story that began a week earlier, when Mary Lenia uploaded the first video of the musician, which generated thousands of reactions among Cubans from across the island and the diaspora.
Among the hundreds of comments on that first video, one question repeatedly appeared: "What happened to his guitar?".
The concern was immediate and genuine. Dozens of people wrote to the video's creator offering help, including a man named Marcos, who shared that he had bought a guitar for his daughter, but she had emigrated.
Marcos consulted with his daughter, and they agreed that no one could make better use of that instrument in Cuba than Muñeco. They arranged the handover, and on Monday, the meeting took place: the musician smiled at having a guitar back in his hands.
"I never imagined that such a beautiful thing would happen," wrote Mary Lenia.
Muñeco has been performing for years in the vicinity of Parque Vidal, the main public and cultural space in Santa Clara, the capital of the Villa Clara province. His presence is so constant that several generations of Cubans remember him.
Legend in Santa Clara. Who doesn't know this character around here? Since we were little, we saw him singing in the street, wrote one of the users in the comments.
Another defined him with a phrase that summarizes the collective affection: «This gentleman is cultural heritage of Santa Clara, always brightening up Parque Vidal with his voice and guitar».
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