The Cuban rapper El B (Bian Oscar Rodríguez Gala) reacted to the case of Baby Lores, who was denied entry to the island while urgently traveling to see his mother hospitalized in intensive care, and took the opportunity to recall the past of the Cienfuegos singer as a public defender of the dictatorship.
The video, published on Facebook, started with a statement of principles: “I believe it is important to achieve a country's freedom and then its reconstruction not to lose memory, to remember things like this.”
The past of Baby Lores that El B doesn't forget
Far from expressing solidarity with the singer, El B —co-founder of the protest rap duo Los Aldeanos— was quick to recall that Baby Lores was not always on the side of those who denounced the regime.
“Baby Lores not only tattooed an image of the dictator Fidel Castro on his arm, but he also documented a process in the music video for a song called Creo, in which he praised the dictatorship. There were bars where he attacked people who think like I do and like many Cubans do, and he also had bars directed straight at the Cuban exile,” he stated.
El B argued that that song—released in 2009—did not emerge by chance, but at the precise moment when protest rap began to shake Cuba from within.
“Baby Lores is not a rapper; Baby Lores is an artist, an academic musician, a singer who has distinguished himself in various genres, including reggaeton, ballads, and salsa. And at this very moment, a rap song by Baby Lores is being released, praising the dictatorship,” he pointed out.
B went further by pointing out that the music video for "Creo" mimicked the aesthetic of their own protest song.
"Coincidentally, Baby Lores' video for the song 'Creo' has a similar aesthetic to 'La naranja se picó,'" stated the rapper, who interprets that release as an attempt by the authorities to counter the impact of critical rap circulating within the island.
Memory as a form of justice
B was explicit in stating that he does not celebrate anyone's suffering, but he is also not willing to erase what he experienced.
He remembered that "Creo" was constantly playing on Cuban television and radio while artists and ordinary people in the United States could not cross the border to see their sick relatives.
I believe that there are pains that one can only understand when they experience them. For example, my mother was not treated the way she should have been, and my mother died while I was in Cuba precisely during those years.
He also recalled the case of Celia Cruz, who in 1962 was denied entry by the regime to see her mother before she died, as a precursor to the restrictions imposed for decades on artists and other Cuban exiles.
“The reason Baby Lores had to separate from his family in Cuba is the dictatorship. And it is the dictatorship that prevents him from visiting his sick mother,” he said emphatically.
The direct message to Cubans on the island
The most compelling part of the video was directed at those who still reside in Cuba.
“To my Cuban followers, people who are in Cuba, let this serve as an example for you to consider what you are going to support, to think about what you are getting involved in, because tomorrow you could be Baby Lores”, he warned.
B closed his video with an unambiguous slogan: "Long live a free Cuba, down with the dictatorship, no more divided families, no more people unable to return to their country to visit their sick relatives!"
Last Saturday, Baby Lores boarded a flight to Havana at Miami airport and was forced to disembark minutes before takeoff, without receiving any official explanation from the Cuban authorities.
The singer linked the measure to his critical stance against the regime, which he has taken more intensely since 2021.
In April of this year, he participated in the judicial hearing of the artist El Insurrecto, and in March, his foundation Somos Esperanza was recognized in the Capitol in Washington for its work with children with autism.
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