The shout "Súbelo Mayeta," which echoes through the streets of Santiago de Cuba and has become a symbol of popular resistance, has a specific origin: it was created by local young urban artists with no political ties, and its history includes repression and a music video that the regime never allowed to be recorded.
Yosmany Mayeta, an independent journalist and member of UNPACU, revealed the details in an interview with Tania Costa. "It arose from a group of young artists who were not confrontational. They were local urban artists who created that song. By the time they presented the song to me, it was already ready; it was on social media," he explained.
The artists behind the song are Lico Wayne and Tino Mán and the producer Asdrúbal Reyna, three individuals from Santiago who create urban music without an oppositional stance.
The problem arose when they decided to shoot the official music video on the streets, capturing footage of the people shouting the chorus. "That's when the brutal repression against these individuals came," Mayeta recounted.
In September 2024, Lico Wayne and Tino Mán received a police summons at the "La Motorizada" station in Santiago de Cuba, and were threatened with more severe consequences if they did not remove the song from digital platforms.
The next day, the 33-year-old producer Reyna was arrested in Santiago de Cuba.
"They are young people who were not connected to politics. Just imagine, they don't know what it's like to suffer directly from the regime's repression until it touched them at this moment over a simple song," Mayeta stated with indignation.
The planned music video was never filmed. However, Mayeta sees a paradox in this. "In the end, the video could not be recorded, but what has emerged now is a great video over the years where the same community has joined in that chorus."
One of the most revealing details shared by Mayeta is the original lyrics, which the artists themselves chose to soften before the repression arrived.
The opening refrain said: “The supplies didn’t arrive, they took away your ration book, Raise it up Mayeta”. The journalist clarifies that “at that time, things were hardly happening, the rationed products were arriving sporadically at the store, and yet now they don’t arrive and there is a total deficit.”
The story of the song is intertwined with Mayeta's personal situation, who faces a crucial immigration court hearing in July 2026 in the United States, where she arrived in 2019 with a J-1 visa that is incompatible with the Cuban Adjustment Act.
"Sadly, I came to study; I did so, and of course returning to Cuba would mean that I would be harassed again or taken to prison," warned the journalist, who has collaborated with media outlets such as Cubanet and 14ymedio and has been documenting repression in Santiago de Cuba for over a decade.
"A part of the chorus of that song truly conveys a powerful message about the Cuban reality," concluded Mayeta, summarizing in one sentence why the regime fears three young musicians and a song so much.
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