Thursday, August 20, 2009

Death threats made against Juanes

Colombian musician Juanes has come under plenty of fire over his plans to hold a “Peace Without Borders” concert in Havana, Cuba. Despite receiving support from some musicians and Cuban dissidents, others in the Cuban exile community have blasted the planned September 20th. One group of Cuban expats in Miami publicly smashed Juanes CDs as a sign of protest last week.

For a few opponents of Juanes, however, the anger against him has become hatred:
Colombian pop star Juanes filed a complaint at the Miami police department after having received threats over his planned concert in Cuba, Telemundo reported Wednesday…

One of the threats said "I hate what you are saying, but you will die defending your right to say it," an alteration of a sentence of French philosopher Voltaire who originally wrote "I do not share what you say, but I will defend until death your right to say it."

According to Telemundo, the singer is now considering suspending the controversial concert. However, in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Wednesday Juanes said the concert was still on.
Despite the paranoia against him, Juanes said that he would like to hold another peace concert along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a message written on his Twitter page, Juanes mentioned that “I want to tell you that, after Cuba, the idea is to go to the U.S.-Mexico border, between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, in 2010.”

Image- AP
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, YouTube, LAHT, Colombia Reports,

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