Influencer or U.S. political agent?
On Friday July 30,2021, President Joe Biden held a meeting to discuss how his government would continue to “support the Cuban people.”

Author: Daily Pérez Guillén | informacion@granmai.cu
september 20, 2021 15:09:54

Yotuel, obviously at the service of those who encourage hate against the Cuban people. Our people always love and create. MEME FROM THE FACEBOOK PAGE OF CIBERCLARIA
On Friday July 30,2021, President Joe Biden held a meeting to discuss how his government would continue to “support the Cuban people.” The website of the White House has reported on the meeting. One of the questions about whether the sanctions would continue or would stop after the ones announced the day of the meeting, asked to the president by one of the attendees, is included in the report. According to the news reports, the attendees were Cuban-Americans whose profiles were politicians, businesspeople and a rapper.

Biden, who called those summoned “experts on the matter,” carefully handpicked his guests to attain the expected results. A few days ago, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez denounced in his twitter account that to please a reactionary and extortionist minority, Washington is able to multiply the damage to 11 million human beings, ignoring the will of most Cubans, U.S. citizens and the international community.

In line with the event, the corporate media called attention to the attendance of one of the authors of the song that is assumed to be directly linked to the protests on July 11, 2021 in Cuba. Previously, Yotuel had gone live on his social media with the director of National Security for the Western Hemisphere and advisor to Biden in Latin American topics, Juan González. With his physique and demeanor, the rapper confidently embodies the “followed one” in communities of young black Cubans, vulnerable given their underprivileged social condition and who the government of the United States have identified as targets in its regime change operations on the island.

Shortly after the meeting, and through a show on social media, the rapper became a “spokesperson” and answered questions asked by the most notorious influencer of Trump’s policies and the Florida-based Cuban hard line rightwing. Otaola, who has spread the idea of a dead stop in the island and publicly demands the U.S. government to condition the granting of visas to Cuban artists to their political leanings, was very interested in the sanctions Biden could issue in the future.

Yotuel’s inclusion in White House guestlist is part of the communication strategy conceived to bring the Cuban people closer to Washington’s discourse, especially the younger generations. This strategy is not new neither it is used for the first time in Cuba, it has been successfully rehearsed in other scenarios, including Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020, and it is still used a year and half into his presidential mandate.

An article originally run in The New York Times explains how the communication team of the Democrat campaign took a turn to widen its reach in social media when Trump seemed to occupy most of the space. For that purpose, Biden shook hands with influential personalities who endorsed his strategy on those platforms. Scholars, minority leaders, social causes activists, influencers and YouTubers shared content in favor of Biden. “Our goal was really to meet people where they were,” said Christian Tom, the head of then Democrat candidate’s digital partnerships team. Following this horizon, they defined their target with precision as well as the contents that may be of their interest.