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Cuban Activists Rally Around Drunken YouTube Ranter

Man thrown in prison for video plea for food

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 8, 2009 9:45 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Cuban activists have found an unlikely cause celebré in the case of Juan Carlos González Marcos, who was sent to prison last month for drunkenly interrupting a shoot for a video about reggaeton with a rant about hunger. González was drinking, as he often did, at his neighborhood park in Havana, when he spotted a camera crew. He ran into the frame. “What we need here is a little bit of jama,” he cried, using the Cuban slang for food. “Go ahead and tape me! Jama!”

The video became a smash hit on YouTube, was shown on Hispanic TV in Miami, and made the cover of several magazines. A later video showed a drunken González dancing in the streets, singing that the police would put him away. They did. He was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison for “pre-criminal social endangerment,” a charge usually reserved for political dissidents. Human rights groups are working to free him, and think he could get a new trial.

Juan Carlos Gonz?lez Marcos, aka P?nfilo, rails against hunger in this YouTube screenshot.
Juan Carlos Gonz?lez Marcos, aka P?nfilo, rails against hunger in this YouTube screenshot.
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The video in question (in Spanish).   (lamalapalabra)

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Pánfilo did not talk about changing the government nor about democracy, but about a simple and fundamental concern of the people of Cuba: their hunger. - Paquito D'Rivera, Cuban musician

This incident was unexpected and came as a surprise because the protagonist was not a political dissident nor a person trying to defend a position or gain popularity. - Jorge Salcedo, publicist for the Jama y Libertad (Food and Freedom) campaign

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 14 comments
riffran
Sep 9, 2009 9:52 AM CDT
the race card and stupidity all rolled into one...Aint she sumtin special
riffran
Sep 9, 2009 9:50 AM CDT
SORRY CORONA HERE YA GO.....A direct quote from one of the great democratic reps in california "You can think whatever you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leaders I have ever met." KABC’s Michael Linder was the only broadcast reporter at Thursday night’s town hall health care debate at Wade AME Church when Rep. Diane Watson [D] made some astonishing comments including claims that those opposed to health care reform are attempting to destroy a president “who looks like me.” Later, Watson praised heath care in Fidel Castro’s Cuba — and, it seemed, the Cuban revolution itself." enjoy the mud in yer eye
BeatBlaster
Sep 9, 2009 4:19 AM CDT
HEY! I was asking a serious question! Obviously I need to choose my words more wisely. lol

 
YouTube • human rights • hunger • free speech • Cuba

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