Pitbull is the latest celebrity to speak out about the ongoing crisis in Cuba. In an emotionally charged message to fans on Wednesday, he called upon Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to “step up” and help.
“This is a message for the world,” the Cuban-American singer addressed via Instagram. “We need to stand up, step up — but if you don’t understand what’s going on — you need to wake the f*** up.”
Cuba, which is going through its worst economic crisis in decades, is experiencing one of its largest anti-government demonstrations in recent history, with thousands protesting rising prices, food and medicine shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and persistent blackouts.
Cuba’s government stoked tensions further by deploying armed forces into the streets.
“This isn’t about politics — this is about saving lives… bottom line, this is about taking action,” the Grammy winner said before revealing he is unable to send aid to his home country.
“It frustrates me… Being a Cuban American and having a platform to speak to the world and not being able to help my own people. Not being able to get them food, not being able to get them water, not being able to get them medicine,” he said, explaining that he is most frustrated that he can’t give Cubans what they deserve, which he says is “freedom.”
Pitbull then issued a call to action on global businesses to get involved and raise awareness before he singled out Bezos, who has Cuban ties.
“Jeff Bezos, Cuban-American, graduated from a high school in Miami, built one of the biggest companies in the world. The richest man in the world. He’s somebody that can get involved and really help us,” the rapper said.
He closed out his video telling his fellow Cubans to “keep the fight up.”
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