Amaury Pérez is an artist who does not hide his devotion to the dictator Fidel Castro and the Revolution. He displays it with such fervor that his adherence to the official narrative becomes a form of political cult that is hard to disguise... and can even be seen as despicable.
That loyalty was once again evident this Wednesday, when the singer-songwriter participated in the program "Con luz propia" at the Centro Fidel Castro Ruz in Havana, where he spent over an hour praising the deceased dictator and the Revolution, according to the official newspaper Granma.
The event is part of the activities celebrating the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth and represents a new public contribution from the singer-songwriter to the official narrative, just weeks after receiving the National Music Award 2025, the highest honor from the Cuban Institute of Music.
Pérez Vidal outlined a family genealogy of loyalty to the regime for those present: "When the Revolution triumphed, my father left his artistic job in television to become the head of the remote controls for Fidel, Raúl, Che, Camilo..., a responsibility he held for 20 years; at home, we talked about Fidel. My mother was an unwavering supporter of Fidel, who had a deep adoration for him," he stated.
The singer-songwriter proudly recounted his personal encounters with Castro: the embrace they exchanged at the Torch March of 1990, the photo that graced the front page of Granma the next day, and the nighttime meetings to organize forums for the return of the boy Elián González.
Regarding that last episode, Pérez Vidal was explicit in his identification with power: "it was no longer just being with Fidel, but working for and on behalf of Fidel, which meant working for and on behalf of the Revolution."
He also described a visit to Castro's office that lasted until dawn and recalled that the dictator asked him whether he wanted him as a friend or as a father. "As a friend," Amaury replied. "Then give me a friend's hug," Fidel requested.
The closing of his speech left no doubt about the role Pérez Vidal has assigned to himself as the sentimental spokesperson of the regime: "The privilege of my life, and you can inscribe it on my tombstone, is having known him and at least considering him my friend."
The Fidel Castro Ruz Center gifted him a portrait of the dictator, a rose, and the framed lyrics of the song that Castro preferred among those he had authored.
Amaury Pérez's trajectory as a figure aligned with the government is long. In 2009, he stated that Juanes "has no ideological affinities of any kind with us."
In December 2021, Díaz-Canel deleted a photo from Twitter taken while holding hands with Amaury following mockery on social media.
On April 4th, while receiving the National Music Award 2025 at a ceremony attended by Díaz-Canel, Lis Cuesta, Alpidio Alonso, and Silvio Rodríguez, Abel Prieto described him as a "great artist and great revolutionary," a characterization that Pérez Vidal himself seems determined to affirm with every public appearance.
In February of this year, Amaury Pérez reiterated his defense of the regime despite acknowledging the suffering of the Cuban people, a stance that his critics view as an unsustainable contradiction for someone who presents themselves as an artist committed to their community.
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