Willie Chirino continues his dream of “singing in a free Cuba”

Willy Chirino arrived as a 14-year-old boy in Miami, thanks to Operation Pedro Pan, in which more than 14,000 Cuban minors were transferred from the island between 1960 and 1962, after Fidel Castro came to power. Fortunately for him, he was able to reunite with his family later in South Florida, and some of these youngsters did not suffer the same fate.

Although he spent most of his life in the United States, he owes his entire artistic career to the land of the free, but also to Cuba, where he spent most of his childhood, but to those who listened to Willie, his music and his words. They know from his songs that his work is, from beginning to end, a tribute to the country in which he was born. Those of us who cried with them Our day (It's coming) We understand, as Chirino says, what it means to “bring a hummingbird in your bag” and “survive outside your language.”

Neither Willie nor any of us resigns ourselves to the idea of ​​never returning to Cuba, despite suffering more than six decades of dictatorship, family disruption, and an exile that threatens to last forever, at the bottom of the world. Our wounded heart retains a great desire to once again set foot on the Greater Antilles and to be received with open arms, free.

The Cuban musician shared this with a video clip from his concert, filled with his followers, singing his songs amidst applause, and chanting “Freedom,” waiting for him to come out and sing.

Along with the short audio and video clip uploaded to TikTok, the artist repeated his deepest wish: “I dream that one day something like this could happen in a free Cuba.”

“Master of the world, this is what we have all been waiting for. “Lift up Cubans,” one netizen commented.

“I hope I can always imagine Celia singing for my people. Another Cuban said: “But I don't give up hope of seeing everyone celebrating with Chirino.”

“With God before us that day will come. No evil lasts 100 years. I pray that when that day comes I will be alive to witness the happiness of the Cuban people. “Long live a free 🇨🇺 Cuba,” wrote Jorge Abel Burgos, another dreamer.

Willy Chirino, 76, has never been separated from Cuba for even a single day, has always proudly and sincerely considered himself 100% Cuban, and in recent years has devoted himself even more strongly to supporting the Cuban cause, to the Cuban cause. New generations of musicians who, like him, had no other choice but to practice their art far from the island, and who, like him, were unable to set foot on the island again for daring to raise their voices.