STORM2K

Huge crowd attends Cuba peace concert
Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:09pm EDT

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people jammed Havana's Revolution Square on Sunday for a concert by Colombian rocker Juanes and other international pop stars who hope music can do what politics has not -- bring together Cubans here and in the United States.

"Kids, we came to Cuba out of love ... it's important to swap hate for love," Juanes told the crowd of hundreds of thousands. Organizers had expected at least half a million, but concert organizer Juanes said it topped one million people.

The much-hyped event was beamed live to an international television audience, including viewers in Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community and center of opposition to Cuba's communist-led government.

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To me the most important part of the concert was when Juanes said "Cuba Libre" (Free Cuba) and "una familia cubana" (one Cuban family), indicating the separation between the Cubans in the island and those outside. Estimates indicate that around 1,150,000 people (Cubans and non-Cubans) attended the concert.

I saw it here on TV.It was a great concert as many singers paticipated besides Juanes.Two boricuas,Olga Tanon and Danny Rivera were there.

cycloneye wrote:I saw it here on TV.It was a great concert as many singers paticipated besides Juanes.Two boricuas,Olga Tanon and Danny Rivera were there.

In my opinion, musically speaking, the best part of the concert was Olga Tañón. Not surprisingly, she said that she wanted to sing a potpourri of Celia Cruz's songs and the government didn't allow her.

Unfortunately, this event will go through like the Pope's visit in 1997. The Pope mentioned the word "freedom" 58 times and nothing has changed. It was just another slap in the face.

The change has to come from us, the Cuban people, not from the outside.

Another picture showing the great number of people



For some the heat was too much

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8265995.stm

Weather conditions during the concert:



Link: http://www.wunderground.com/history/air ... atename=NA

WOW

"There are reports, too, that one Spanish-radio shock jock from Miami, Javier Ceriani, was being held in a Havana hotel because he dared to wear a T-shirt at the concert that proclaimed ``Libertad'' -- Freedom."

Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/edit ... 48798.html

It has been confirmed that Ceriani was detained by two female officers and also beaten. One word can make all the difference in Castro's dictatorship.

HURAKAN wrote:To me the most important part of the concert was when Juanes said "Cuba Libre" (Free Cuba) and "una sola familia cubana" (one Cuban family), indicating the separation between the Cubans in the island and those outside.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKc8MZxr4QQ[/youtube]