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Gloria Estefan Says Fidel Castro’s Death Will ‘Lead to Positive Change for the Cuban People’

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Gloria Estefan arrives at 'People En Espanol' Celebrates the 25 Most Powerful Women on Sept. 16, 2016, in Miami.John Parra/Getty Images)

Gloria Estefan, who immigrated from Cuba to America as a toddler with her family, wrote a powerful response reflecting on former Cuban president Fidel Castro’s death via Instagram on Saturday, November 26. She shared her message alongside a photo of Cuban exiles fleeing the country on a raft.

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“Although the death of a human being is rarely cause for celebration, it is the symbolic death of the destructive ideologies that he espoused that, I believe, is filling the Cuban exile community with renewed hope and a relief that has been long in coming,” the “Conga” singer, 59, wrote. “And although the grip of Castro’s regime will not loosen overnight, the demise of a leader that oversaw the annihilation of those with an opposing view, the indiscriminate jailing of innocents, the separation of families, the censure of his people’s freedom to speak, state sanctioned terrorism and the economic destruction of a once thriving & successful country, can only lead to positive change for the Cuban people and our world.”

“May freedom continue to ring in the United States, my beautiful adopted country, and may the hope for freedom be inspired and renewed in the heart of every Cuban in my homeland and throughout the world,” she concluded the post, alongside Cuban and American flag emojis.

Although the death of a human being is rarely cause for celebration, it is the symbolic death of the destructive ideologies that he espoused that, I believe, is filling the Cuban exile community with renewed hope and a relief that has been long in coming. And although the grip of Castro’s regime will not loosen overnight, the demise of a leader that oversaw the annihilation of those with an opposing view, the indiscriminate jailing of innocents, the separation of families, the censure of his people’s freedom to speak, state sanctioned terrorism and the economic destruction of a once thriving & successful country, can only lead to positive change for the Cuban people and our world. May freedom continue to ring in the United States, my beautiful adopted country, and may the hope for freedom be inspired and renewed in the heart of every Cuban in my homeland and throughout the world. ???? Aunque la muerte de un ser humano es raramente causa para celebrar, es la muerte simbólica de las ideologías destructivas que el patrocinó que, en mi opinión, están llenando al exilio Cubano de esperanza renovada y un alivio que ha tardado mucho en llegar. Y aunque el agarre del régimen Castrista no se aflojara de un día para otro, el deceso de un líder que supervisó el aniquilamiento de aquellos con puntos de vistas opuestos al suyo, el encarcelamiento de inocentes, la separación de familias, la censura de la libertad de expresión, el esparcimiento de terrorismo sancionado por su gobierno y la destrucción económica de un país exitoso que prosperaba, solo puede llevar a cambios positivos para el pueblo Cubano y el mundo. Que la libertad siga viva en los Estados Unidos, mi bello país adoptivo, y que la esperanza para la libertad crezca y se renueve en los corazones de cada Cubano en mi tierra natal y a través del mundo.????

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Estefan, who was born in Havana, fled Cuba more than 50 years ago after Castro rose to power. Her father, José Fajardo, was a Cuban soldier who later fought in the Vietnam War with the United States military after his family fled to Miami. Estefan became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1974.

Earlier this year, the four-time Grammy winner said in a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame video that she won’t perform concerts in her native country. “I can’t get on a stage with millions of Cubans in front of me and not say something,” she explained. “It’s very tough for me, and my father sacrificed a lot, and I really, I can’t do it, personally.”

Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president and revolutionary leader, died at the age of 90, announces his brother and current president of Cuba, Raul Castro, on Nov. 25, 2016, in Havana. Ernesto Mastrascusa/LatinContent/Getty Images

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Several other Cuban American entertainers took to social media after news broke of Castro’s death late Friday, November 25. Fifth Harmony singer Camila Cabello, who was born in Cuba, tweeted: “I want nothing more than to see the families that were divided to come together again and for all the years of pain to come to an end.” 

Her bandmate Lauren Jauregui, whose parents are Cuban, shared an Instagram photo of an anti-Castro celebration that broke out in Miami earlier on Saturday, writing, “The cockroach died. #FreeCuba What happiness! I know that my grandmothers are dancing together in a party in heaven where [late Cuban singer] Celia Cruz is singing songs about liberty and freedom.”

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