A Havana singer who will take part in the Juanes concert Sunday has said that exiled Cuban artists should be allowed to perform on the island and criticized the notorious jailing of a Havana man for his drunken complaint of widespread hunger as "an awful error."

Pérez helped arrange and will sing at the concert organized by Colombian rocker Juanes, which has drawn criticisms from some Cuban-Americans that it will be politicized by the communist government and features no Cuban exile singers.

Asked if he would favor having Olga Guillot and Mike Porcel -- exile singers who have strongly criticized the government -- appear in Havana, Pérez replied, "Of course, yes. That has been my stance all the time . . . In that exile are many friends . . . who are dear old friends. Why not? Because we're all Cubans."

He added that the Cuban government has met all the Juanes requests to ensure that the concert remains apolitical.

Haza asked Pérez about a report by the Spanish EFE news agency that quoted the Cuban singer as saying that the Juanes concert would be "a window" for Cuba that could grow into "a door, a gate and a tide that no one will be able to stop."

There has been some speculation that Cuban youth, many of them deeply frustrated with the island's system, might use the international focus on the concert to express their discontent.

"I meant that as an example of interchanges among peoples," Pérez said, "like the fresh air of the Caribbean that goes from one place to another. It was not a metaphor."

Meanwhile, five more exile groups in Miami criticized the Juanes concert in a letter made public Wednesday, saying it was an "unacceptable joke" to promise that the concert will be without politics.

Another exile group, Mambisa Watch, announced that on Sunday evening it will use a steamroller in Little Havana to destroy CDs of artists who take part in the Juanes concert.

Source: Miami Herald