An exiled Cuban rapper who once spat bars against communism finds himself ensnared in a freestyle drama for his freedom. El Funky, best known as one of the voices behind “Patria y Vida,” the anthem of 2021 that ripped the regime in Cuba and became an international phenomenon, is now counting down 30 days until he may be deported from the United States.
As Donald Trump gleefully hurls presidential pardons around like party favors to reality TV hucksters, here’s El Funky, just hoping not to get sent back to a country where speaking out could get him thrown in a cage or worse.
“If I had the right to vote, I would have voted for Trump,” El Funky recently said. It is a brave move because the MAGA crew is hardly rolling out the red carpet for him in 2020. As Trump pockets Todd and Julie Chrisley, Chrisley Knows Best’s Bible-thumping bank-fraud-committing talent, I remind you that El Funky is sweating a deportation notice as though it’s a diss track with stakes.
El Funky risked his life and freedom with “Patria y Vida,” a protest song that galvanized Cubans and caught the attention of U.S. politicians. Even Florida’s own Marco Rubio got hold of the anthem and ran with it in full view of the world media, waving it like a political trophy. But when El Funky applied to remain in the U.S. under the Cuban Adjustment Act, a law explicitly designed to help Cuban dissidents like him, he was rejected.
Now, he’s looking at the prospect of being dispatched back to the same regime he put his life at risk to defy. And Trump is too preoccupied with autographing pardons for reality TV celebrities with million-dollar fraud convictions. Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced in 2022 for ripping off more than $30 million and attempting to skirt Uncle Sam, and Trump is still on the case.
El Funky is now appealing for help on Facebook: “I have 30 days to leave the country, or I will be deported,” he wrote. “I apologize to all my Cuban brothers and sisters who are aware of my anti-communist history and to the representatives of the Congress of this country, who today more than ever need your support.”
Thankfully, Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar of Florida is trying to step in. “El Funky is a political refugee who deserves the full protection of U.S. immigration law,” she told Politico.
Perhaps it’s time for El Funky to remix his slogan. Forget MAGA, and how about MACA: Make Cuba Great Again? It’s starting to seem that the only people getting assistance are those with money for television primetime and a personal attorney on speed dial.
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