(March 26, 2026)

The image of a rifle in the hands of a singer-songwriter is strange, but not when the one wielding it is Silvio Rodríguez, 79. The Cuban singer-songwriter has spent his entire life singing, directly or indirectly, about the Revolution, its leaders and its ideals; about the martyrs and the guerrillas. “There are politics in my songs, but not propaganda,” says the musician, who receives EL PAÍS on Wednesday at the Ojalá studios in Havana. He speaks of the government’s “orthodox and closed” vision in the economic sphere, and of his commitment to a less “rigid” socialism. “Socialism by the book is very idealistic,” he concludes. He doesn’t budge an inch on his opinion of the United States government: “The world is run by an authoritarian, warmongering, thieving regime. And it’s not Cuba.”