Cuba’s Celia Cruz Honored by Google

HAVANA TIMES — I could never hear the voice of Celia Cruz (1925-2003) on a radio station in Cuba. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to.

It seems that the Cuban government’s motives, while not explicitly explained anywhere, are reduced to not publishing or allowing public airspace to those artists and intellectuals who criticize them or who are opposed to the government.

But despite this we Cubans listened to Celia. In the same way we also read Guillermo Cabrera Infante and many others.

This crazy situation has repeated itself thousands of times in over half a century .

Musician Robertico Carcasses recently expressed some lines that are at odds with the official policy of the Cuban government and he was threatened and reprisals were taken against him. However thanks to the solidarity of many people, the government retracted its extreme position that would have kept him from performing in public.

Today Google, the company known for its Internet search engine, is celebrating the 88^th anniversry of the birth of Celia Cruz with a Google doodle on its homepage.

Today millions of people worldwide will see the name of this small Cuban with a big voice who the island’s authorities were never able to turn off.