5 things to know about USAID's Cuban hip-hop plan

[Judi Lynn]

2. US Tried to Infiltrate Cuban Hip Hop to Overthrow Regime - with Predictable Results

US Tried to Infiltrate Cuban Hip Hop to Overthrow Regime - with Predictable Results
ByDESMOND BUTLER and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Published December 11, 2014, 11:16 AM EST


HAVANA (AP) — In early 2009, a U.S. government contractor sent a Serbian music promoter to Cuba with these covert marching orders: Recruit one of Havana's most notorious rappers to spark a youth movement against the government.

In communist Cuba, it was a project that could have landed Rajko Bozic in jail. So when he made his pitch to team up with hip-hop artist Aldo Rodriguez, Bozic left out the part about his true intentions — or that he was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Dreadlocked, muscled and tattooed, Aldo, as he was known, was a hero in the hip-hop underground for lyrics protesting the Castro government's grip on everyday life in songs like "El Rap Es Guerra," or "Rap Is War," words he tattooed on his forearm.


He and his group, Los Aldeanos, were about to unknowingly get sucked into a tug-of-war between Havana and Washington, as thousands of pages of documents obtained by The Associated Press and dozens of interviews show.

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