The Panamanian musician and singer Rubén Blades has exposed the revival of a fabricated controversy with Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez on social media platforms affiliated with the regime of Nicolás Maduro. "The trolls, bloggers, and call centers of the dictator Maduro have revived a false piece of information attributed to the Cuban musician and poet Silvio Rodríguez, claiming he attacked me for my opinion about Maduro," Blades denounced this Friday on his social media accounts.
Blades did not specify which social media accounts shared the allegedly false content, nor did he post the publications that supposedly propagated what he termed as fake news. "To clarify the lie propagated by the spokespeople of the Venezuelan dictatorship, I reproduce this article I published in 'Apuntes desde la Esquina', which explains and refutes, with quotes from Silvio himself, the falsehood from 2014, 2019, and now in 2024, the same people are trying to revive to confuse and discredit my stance," Blades stated on his blog, linking to a February 2019 post when news of a false controversy between the two musicians spread.
The issue dates back to 2014, months after the April 14, 2013 elections in Venezuela, where the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner over opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. In a 2019 blog entry, Blades explained that media and social media profiles sympathetic to chavismo had distorted Rodríguez’s words and created a fake controversy between the two musicians. This stemmed from a letter published on Rodríguez’s blog (Segunda Cita) from Blades to dictator Maduro.
This letter was answered in the blog's comments by Cuban writer and academic Guillermo Rodríguez Rivera. However, certain media outlets misconstrued Rodríguez Rivera's words as if they were Silvio's direct response to Blades. As Blades clarified in 2019, on March 5, 2014, Silvio denied to Noticieros Televisa "that there was any feud between Rubén Blades and him over the political and social instability in Venezuela."
"I have no interaction with Rubén Blades; the press claims I responded to him, but I merely reproduced the letter in my blog, the epistle Blades wrote to President Maduro. Guillermo Rodríguez Rivera, a professor at the University of Cuba, poet, and art critic, was the one who replied to Rubén," the troubadour clarified at the time.
Media manipulation by outlets sympathetic to chavismo reused this false controversy after the 2019 elections, prompting another post from Blades alerting people of its falsehood and respectfully writing to the real Silvio Rodríguez to express his regret over such fabrications. Additionally, the Panamanian singer and activist sarcastically criticized Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel for echoing the fake news.
"Now they have revived the same false issue, repeating the same 2014 lie... I am very clear that what Prensa Latina, taken from a Venezuelan radio station, publishes is false, and I will not allow them to use me against you, nor entangle us in their nonsense," the Panamanian singer noted in his 2019 post.
Adhering to the maxim of Joseph Goebbels (the German Nazi ideologue) that "a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth," media allied with Nicolás Maduro's regime have once again spread the ashes of the false controversies from 2014 and 2019, attempting to legitimize the election fraud with the supposed moral authority of the Cuban singer-songwriter.
Understanding the Fake Controversy Between Rubén Blades and Silvio Rodríguez
To provide a clearer understanding of the false controversy between Rubén Blades and Silvio Rodríguez, here are some frequently asked questions and their answers.
What sparked the false controversy between Rubén Blades and Silvio Rodríguez?
The false controversy originated from a letter Rubén Blades wrote to Nicolás Maduro, which was published on Silvio Rodríguez’s blog. A response from Cuban academic Guillermo Rodríguez Rivera was misconstrued by some media as if it were Silvio's direct response to Blades.
How did Rubén Blades respond to the resurgence of the false controversy?
Rubén Blades addressed the issue by posting on his blog and social media, refuting the false claims and providing context with quotes from Silvio Rodríguez himself.
What role did social media play in spreading the false controversy?
Social media platforms affiliated with Nicolás Maduro’s regime were instrumental in reviving and spreading the false controversy, using it as a tool to discredit Rubén Blades' stance on the Venezuelan dictatorship.