Willy Chirino's exchange proposal

From the Miami Herald:

Cultural exchange a one-way policy

By MYRIAM MARQUEZ

mmarquez@MiamiHerald.com

Willy Chirino, Pedro Pan kid turned Cuban-American salsero, has an offer for Raúl. Yeah, that Raúl, Fidel Castro's little brother now running that prison paradise across the Florida Straits.

``Let them pick and choose a bunch of their artists, the ones that represent the revolution the most . . . and come here to this city in the place they choose for a concert in which they express exactly what it is they want to express. Freedom for the five spies or whatever,'' Chirino tells me, taking a dramatic pause for effect.

In exchange, he notes ``let us Cuban artists who live outside the island, Gloria Estefan, my wife Lissette [Alvarez], Marisela Verena, Amaury Gutierrez, Albita [Rodriguez], just to mention a few'' hold a concert in Cuba with Cuban punk rockers like Gorki Aguila, rappers like Silvito El Libre and other artists who ``really have the courage inside the island to be able to use their music as a way of communicating the real struggle.''

Wouldn't you start a riot? I ask him.

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Click here for the whole story and a video of the interview.