This is Gorki Águila, the lead singer of a punk band called Porno para Ricardo, and who last month was hauled into court by the Cuban government and charged with "dangerousness" - a legal charge under Cuban law which allows the authorities to detain people whom they think are likely to commit crimes (think: "precrimes" in the film Minority Report). The charge carries a penalty of up to four years in prison. So fortunately for Gorki, Fidel's minions dropped the charge down to "public disorder" and fined him $30.
So how do nonconformists like this guy threaten a government? I mean, c'mon, just look at him! Precisely because he is just that - a nonconformist...a rebel. That's what punk rockers are supposed to be, right? Gorki could be singing and thrashing around to the usual Cuban government's fare of anti-U.S., anti-Imperialist, anti-Neoliberal screeds (and at one time, he says, he was Good Comrade Gorki, faithful follower of Ché). Heck, the government even once allowed his band's songs to be played on Cuban radio! But all that changed when Gorki started to see through the facade of lies and control that the Cuban government imposes on its people. So now he's considered a dissident - probably a title he wears with honor - as well as a genuine hero and role model for other Cubans (see this post and this one too on a dissident Cuban blog called Generación Y). Now that's not somthing you can say about very many lead singers of punk bands!
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