Punk Rocker Gorki Aguila Arrested In Cuba

Cuba Underground and CNN report that Gorki Luis Aguila Carrasco, lead singer of Cuba's most defiantly outspoken punk outfit Porno Para Ricardo was detained in his home Monday morning. According to his father, he is being held by the Cuban government until Thursday when he faces a sentence of one to four years for an obscure charge in Cuba known as "dangerousness" which supposes the possibility of a criminal act that has yet to be committed. Under Cuba's penal code, habitual drunkenness and anti-social behavior are signs of a "state of dangerousness." The arrest came as Aguila was about to record the final songs of the band's next record, according to a statement on the band's Web site.

"This new episode of harassment and persecution is occurring just as Porno para Ricardo is in the middle of recording its new record, which eliminates any possibility that this repressive escalation could be described as a 'coincidence,' " the statement said. "In Cuba, the voice of the brave is silenced by the regime, which doesn't hesitate to use intimidation and force."

This is not the first time Aguila has been locked up for his anti-revolutionary vitriol in songs that explicitly criticize the Castro regime. He was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to two years on trumped up drug charges. His release came after Freemuse, an international organization advocating freedom of expression for musicians and composers living in oppressive political systems, intervened on the Cuban rocker's behalf. Since his release Aguila had been repeatedly harassed, threatened, and was briefly detained last year. His only crime, one for which he's willing to face the music, no pun intended, is having the balls to call a communist dictatorship by its name.

Songs such as "Comunista de la Gran Escena," "Ratas Dirigentes," and "El Comandante," are full of schoolboy zeal and a biting sense of humor, combined with an imploding, angst-driven thrashing that borders on insanity. The four members of Porno Para Ricardo had continued to undermine authority, recording music in a makeshift studio and performing underground just hours after announcing their shows through word of mouth. In true D.I.Y. fashion, the foursome has released five full-length albums under Aguila's own label La Paja Records. They are distributed like contraband and sold on the Internet with the help of a friend outside the country. Now Aguila is paying the price for having conspicuously strayed from the party line in true punk style and for assuming that rockin' in a free world is a universal right.