A popular Venezuelan journo-blogger seems to think so, and after reading this, so do I:
Translation mine. Linkage as in original.Here’s the screenshot Luigino Bracci took of the tweets in question:Colombian singer/song-writer Juanes seems to be in agreement with those users of the Twitter website who demand the downfall of the government of Hugo Chávez. At least, that’s how it looked on Saturday on Juanes’ Twitter account. Juanes has some 293,000 followers on Twitter, who read his writings daily. The Twitter corporation assures that his account is verified and that it really does belong to the Colombian artist.The singer asked on Saturday, around 1:35 pm: “Anyone from Venezuela here? What’s going on? How are things going there?” This generated hundreds of responses, of which Juanes decided to “re-tweet” two. One, by a user named LuisEwando, read: “Juanes, in Venezuela the politicians have allowed themselves to be bought, and only a people’s uprising can bring down this oppressive government.” Juanes also retransmitted the thoughts of user DavidMorante, who said: “Juanes, everyday there are more governmental restrictions here in Venezuela, but we Venezuelans will never give ourselves away.”On Twitter, people can “re-tweet”, or retransmit, messages from other people, something they generally do when in agreement with that user’s thoughts and want others to know it. In this case, the 293,000 followers of Juanes on Twitter received those two thoughts, re-tweeted.Until now, Juanes has maintained a supposed neutrality and has never pronounced openly in favor or in opposition to President Chávez, or his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe Vélez. He generated much controversy with his “Peace Without Borders” concerts, one of them on the Colombia-Venezuela border in March of 2008, and the other in Havana in 2009.
Be it now known that Juanes is a douche who only does the “peace” thing to raise his own profile (and bank account). He doesn’t care that the twits he’s re-tweeting are openly calling for the overthrow of a popular, elected president. So glad I’m not on Twitter, OR a fan of his very mediocre music. I’ll stick with real socially conscious rockers, like Ska-P, Dame Pa’ Matala and Buena Fe, muchas gracias…
What’s surprising about this? Juanes is a Colombian, and has been a “Primero Colombia” supporter (Alvaro Uribe’s party) for his entire career.
Why am I not surprised? Whenever someone is as coy about his politics as this dude has been, it means he has something to hide. Sure enough, he’s a fascist. No wonder he hides it…
This development does not surprise me at all. Usually, when people tip toe around critical issues because they want to appease anti-democratic power, or are basically brain-dead, then you know which side they will come down on when it matters.
On the other hand, if Juanes was critical of Uribe, and was authentically on the left, they would probably kill his ass.
But I think that his proclivities trend toward the oligarchy and the squalid opulence they promote as lifestyle.
On a side-note, Evo saw the movie Avatar, which supposedly has an anti-imperialist, pro-ecological theme. Sounds like a winner. That the barbaric rightwing are already hating on this movie puts it on my things to watch list.
Most movies are pretty boring and squalid, and it is a pleasure to see something that actually can positively impact the mass psyche in a healthy way.
I suspect you’re right. He makes a lot of money, and he’d no doubt like to protect that; also, he’s reluctant to face a blacklist, as has happened with a lot of real leftist artists (think Paul Robeson!) Since Juanes’ biggest constituency is the faux-apolitical Miamero types (who always run to the right on election day!), it makes sense that he sucks up to the right and wants to come off as unthreatening to their interests as possible. After all, he shares those same. No wonder his “peace” talk all comes off so mealy-mouthed.
But what a difference in attitudes: The left has no problem with his giving a concert in Cuba; Chávez has never talked of banning him (and would certainly never entertain “tweets” suggesting that he be in any way harmed); the Cuban government had no problem letting him in; Silvio Rodríguez even sang with him. And lots of other artists said they wanted to come to Cuba again, and will probably do so under a much-lower profile in future. Most of them, I’d say, are well to the left of Juanes. The other so-called “big” names in the US “Latin” category, however, were notably absent. Things that make you go hmmmm…
Can’t really say I’m shocked; I like Juanes music on a superficial level, but like another pop star I like on the superficial level, Shakira, he’s always been a supporter of the Colombian establishment, maybe less enthusiastic about Uribe than Shakira because of his novelty peace campaign, but no less of an establishment hack. These people think donating to charity and talking about peace without any substance behind it makes up for their excessive lifestyles; very few pop stars actually care about the poor after all.
Speaking of Shakira, she’s apparently still engaged to the son of Argentine president fuckup Fernando de la Rua. Antonio de la Rua owns his own Bahaman island and a fraud of a charity that somehow got Garcia Marquez on board:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALAS_Foundation
Oh surprise, surprise. Wealthy twits all flock together, after all…glad I’m no fan of hers, either.
I *am* a bit surprised about Gabo, though. Maybe they’re preying on his age and vulnerability. He hasn’t been well lately.