“I Want to Live in a Sane Country, Because Cuba Is Crazy”
Cuban comedian Alian Aramis speaks with 14ymedio after leaving the island due to pressure and censorship.
HAVANA TIMES – In a video from Guyana, he is seen enjoying a dish of ice cream with the voracity of a child, while criticizing Cuban bureaucracy, the failed Ordering Task, and the absurd partial dollarization of the economy. It is comedian Alian Aramis, who recently left the island under pressure after dedicating a song to Sandro Castro, Fidel Castro’s arrogant grandson.
A lawyer, shoemaker, bricklayer, ingenious meme creator, and recent launcher of a YouTube channel, the 41-year-old artist speaks with 14ymedio about his career, the impact the song ¡Que vaya el Sandro! had on his life, and what he’s discovered after leaving the country that is the source of all his jokes and worries for the first time.
“Juan sin nada… Juan sin tierra” is heard in your most popular song. Why did you use the verses of Nicolás Guillén?
Alain Aramis: In my humor, I’m always parodying poems and songs. I’ve parodied poems by José Martí and Bonifacio Byrne. I thought it was a great opportunity to compare what Guillén expressed at the time with what I, Juan Sans Nada, wanted to express.
Some comedians have used social media to spread their art, many have published books, and others perform in theaters or private clubs, but you use artificial intelligence. Why?
I started on social media because it’s the first opportunity open to any Cuban who wants to make an artistic statement. From then on, I started getting calls to perform in clubs and theaters. I’m the author of ¡Que vaya el Sandro! (Let Sandro Go! ), I wrote the lyrics, and the music for Edmundo Dantés Jr.’s Facebook profile was created using Artificial Intelligence. AI offers many advantages; it’s very fast. I also have stories, verses, memes, parodies, and chronicles, because writing humor is my hobby; I enjoy it. If people like it and it spreads, that’s a plus.
Why did you decide to leave Cuba?
I posted the song on social media, and immediately, people started calling me a “hater,” an enemy, just because I was criticizing Sandro Castro’s luxurious and ostentatious lifestyle. When you don’t play along, when you don’t submit, when you don’t grovel before them, then they turn you into an enemy. You don’t become one; they are the ones who turn you into an enemy, because they are the real “haters.”
Before the song ¡Que vaya el Sandro! (Let Sandro Go!), doors had already been closed to me due to the content of my jokes. A sold-out show at the Astral Theater was canceled because they scared the director, given that I was the host. I presented projects, and they told me to “leave it there,” but then they never called me back. The shtick I was doing at the bar on 23rd and 12th Streets was also canceled. Two days after the song came out, I had a New Year’s Eve show at Nave Oficio in Isla, and they’d received a call from the National Council of the Performing Arts telling them not to let me on stage. Luckily, Osvaldo Doimeadiós stood firm, and I was able to perform.
It wasn’t just me being delusional; I was running out of opportunities, I no longer had a permanent space, and when I called my colleagues, I realized they were caught between a rock and a hard place because I was marked as a “pestilent” from above. Some told me I could do a show but not to advertise it on social media, not to record myself. I knew this from a few years earlier when the young comedians from the group Los Reemplazables [The Replaceables] invited Ulises Toirac to a presentation, and afterward we found ourselves in a tight spot, because he was on a blacklist.
I didn’t write the song to earn myself a visa, or to pad my file, or to win political asylum. That’s not what I’m working for. In reality, I wasn’t planning on leaving Cuba permanently. Now, after I left for Guyana, I’ve heard from colleagues who have been told they can’t like one of my posts. Anyone who comments on one of my memes as a comedian while in Cuba knows they’re doomed.
You’re currently in Guyana. Do you have any destinations in mind?
I left for Guyana because Cubans don’t need a visa to enter this country. The goal was to leave. We’ll see what happens, although I’ve heard recommendations from other Cubans who are settling in Brazil, Uruguay, or Chile. Others are going further north, to Mexico.
It’s very difficult for a comedian to follow his work outside his country, where most of the references for laughing at his jokes are. Do you plan to continue in comedy?
I see myself capable of adapting to comedy elsewhere. Being away won’t stop me from telling jokes; I’ll continue to do comedy because it’s what I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember. But if I can’t work as a comedian to earn a living, I’m not going to die. I know how to do many things: shoes, electronic repairs, or building a wall. I can learn other trades, and I’m not afraid to do them.
What are your most important impressions of Guyana?
I’ve never traveled before. Although I’ve only been in Guyana for a short time, being here has confirmed to me how bad Cuba is, and the people have no idea how bad their lives are. The variety of food here is incredible, the stores are well-stocked, the streets are clean. I know Cubans who live here, have jobs, pay their rent, buy food, and are saving money. Who in Cuba can do that?
Guyanese, after work, sit somewhere with a beer or a soft drink, something you can’t do in Cuba. They live a much more relaxed life than we do. After age 60, they have the right to use public transportation for free, have better-located parking spaces, and enjoy many social and public programs that have made me wonder, but is this capitalism?
I saw a small bicycle in the trash that many Cuban children would love to have. I found a refrigerator, also discarded, which many families in my country don’t have. We’re talking about Guyana, a third-world country. But if this is the third world country, what is Cuba? Everywhere I look, I see people working and prosperity.
What kind of country do you want your children to grow up in?
A country where there’s no Sandro Castro with privileges he didn’t earn. Free of absurd and extremist ideologies that only create hatred and division, where my children can develop without having to emigrate to fulfill their dreams. I want a sane country, because Cuba is crazy right now, that also has full freedoms and where I can express myself as an artist. A country where, if an official is doing things wrong, and I criticize them with my humor, I don’t have to go into exile for it.
I want a country where journalism outside of state institutions isn’t viewed as the enemy. If an artist is interviewed by one of those independent media outlets or by a foreign one, that shouldn’t be taken as evidence that they’re the enemy, that they’re part of a CIA campaign. If you want to be a communist, you can be one, but liberals should also have that right.
Do you miss the blackouts?
Aramis: I don’t miss that; I forget it very quickly. One of the best feelings I have now is being safe from blackouts. Knowing I can sleep without the fear of losing power, knowing I can work on my computer or do something that depends on electricity and have the peace of mind that it won’t go away. No, I don’t miss the blackouts, not at all.
Translated by Translating Cuba.
I enjoyed the interview. The reality is that few dictators, kings, queens, autocrats or the like are capable of laughing at themselves and the way they govern their countries. Their children and grandchildren and the way they live are off bounds from criticism, be it direct or in comedy.