The Cuban singer-songwriter Miguel Ricote, 21 years old and from Banes, went viral this Tuesday by posting a video performing "Puente (Caribe)", the heartfelt song by Ricardo Arjona dedicated to Cuba, with a direct message to the Guatemalan artist.
In the post, Ricote wrote: "Puente, a song that undoubtedly brings Cuba a little closer to you. Thank you, maestro Ricardo Arjona, for this masterpiece and for loving my country so much."
The young man directly tagged Arjona and asked his followers to do the same so that the message would reach the artist.
The response was immediate: the post has garnered over 33,000 views and more than 4,600 «likes» in just a few hours, and the comments were filled with followers tagging Arjona with phrases like "Master, check out this talent" and "Wow, so deep, it has to reach Arjona one way or another."
In this song, Arjona uses the metaphor of a 90-mile bridge to symbolize the reconciliation between Cubans on the island and the diaspora, addressing themes of separation, nostalgia, and belonging that resonate deeply within the Cuban community both on and off the island.
The musical piece regained its relevance on March 26, when Arjona performed it spontaneously at a concert in Houston upon noticing multiple Cuban flags in the audience.
"There are so many flags of Cuba that I'm going to sing at least a piece," said the artist before starting the song, provoking shouts of "Freedom!" and a collective reaction that went viral on social media.
A Cuban attendee at the concert shared on TikTok: "I cried as soon as he said 'Habana.' Just imagine, all the Cubans on their feet."
On April 8th, Arjona once again shared an emotional moment with the Cuban community by bringing a fan from the island on stage during his birthday concert.
Ricote is not a stranger in the Cuban musical landscape on social media. On March 20, he went viral with his original song "Viva Cuba Libre," recorded during a blackout by candlelight, which candidly depicts the everyday crisis in Cuba: power outages, food shortages, repression, and forced emigration.
That music video surpassed 61,000 views and solidified its profile as the voice of a new generation of Cuban creators who use digital platforms to express what the official discourse silences.
Verses like "Another day I woke up with no light. Another day when nothing is different" or "Another day when if I post what I think, I feel like a suicidal" reflect the courage that each post entails for a young artist in Cuba.
Ricote himself has acknowledged that publishing his thoughts generates fear and a feeling of distress, which adds greater symbolic weight to each video he shares with his over 100,000 followers.
His style, centered on acoustic guitar and reinterpreted versions of songs, has found in "Puente" the perfect vehicle for a message that the Cuban community has been waiting to hear for years: "My music is for those who are awake… for those who want to think," the young artist has said about his musical proposal.
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