The Salvadoran singer-songwriter Álvaro Torres sparked a wave of emotion among the Cuban audience in Miami last Friday when, after performing his song "Patria Querida," he shouted "Long live a free Cuba!" and "Beautiful little Cuba!" from the stage of La Scala de Miami.
The concert, held on May 8 at the venue located on Brickell Bay Drive, was organized to celebrate Mother's Day.
Torres had announced it as "a concert for mom, filled with love and songs we keep in our hearts. It will be a very special night. I look forward to seeing you all with all my affection."
The moment when Torres spoke those words was captured on video by attendees and shared on social media by Cuban comedian Cuquita la Mora. She posted a clip of the moment with the message: "Yesterday was a spectacular night with Álvaro Torres, thank you for that shout of Cuba Libre and for such a special night full of feelings and beautiful memories."
The next day, Torres himself thanked on his Instagram account: "Thank you, Miami, for an unforgettable night and for all the love you gave me."
The gesture carries special weight given the artist's history with the island. Torres has visited Cuba multiple times and filled the Teatro Karl Marx in Havana with romance in December 2019, during a tour of four concerts to present his album Álvaro Torres y sus buenos amigos, recorded under the Cuban state label EGREM.
That album brought together artists such as Laritza Bacallao, Paulo FG, Pancho Céspedes, Eliades Ochoa, Leoni Torres, Haila María Mompié, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, among others. The tour included performances at the Varadero Amphitheater, Pinar del Río, and the Karl Marx Theater.
That now, before the Cuban exile audience in Miami— a community where the phrase "Cuba libre" carries a very particular political and emotional weight—, Torres has shouted that cry after performing "Patria Querida," a ballad about the nostalgia of the emigrant for their homeland, amplified the significance of the moment for those who filled the venue.
Torres will continue his tour, with performances at the Simon Events Center in Orlando and is scheduled to perform on May 16 at the Hard Rock Café in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
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