Cuban reggaeton singer El Taiger dies after being shot in Miami
Artists and fans shared their grief after the murder of the 37-year-old singer, who was very critical of the Castro dictatorship during the July 11 repression protests.
Tributes in Havana to El Taiger after his death in Miami
Cuban musician Jose Manuel Carvajal, known as El Taiger, died Thursday in Miami at the age of 37, a week after being hospitalized in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the head. In Cuba, fans bid him farewell "celebrating as he wanted" with "party and joy," according to AFP.
El Taiger, who made the well-known song “Habla Matador,” had been based in the United States for several years. Carvajal had been hospitalized since Oct. 3 at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he finally died.
Upon receiving an alert last week, authorities found the musician unconscious inside a car and transferred him to intensive care at that health center. Miami police are investigating the incident.
Jorge Hernández Carvajal, cousin of the reggaeton musician and leader of the group Los Cuatro, with which El Taiger began his career, sent a message through social media to announce his death. "I hope we remember him as he was," he asked.
In a statement released on social media, his family thanked the medical team that attended him and those "who offered prayers and tributes during his hospitalization" in Miami and Cuba. "Turn up the volume of your music, dance and celebrate his life," the family added in the statement.
El Taiger’s battle against the repression of the Castro dictatorship
Known for songs such as “El Papelito,” “Hilito Rojo,” “Eso Es Bola” and “La Historia,” among others. El Taiger mixed reggaeton with other Cuban genres such as timba.
His song “Marca Mandarina” is widely listened to in Cuba and the United States, with more than 26 million views on YouTube.
With thousands of followers both in Cuba and in the Hispanic community of South Florida, Carvajal frequently traveled to the island to visit his grandmother, his two young daughters and to put on concerts, which earned him criticism among some sectors of the Cuban diaspora.
However, he was one of the Cuban musicians who criticized the government for the repression unleashed during and after the historic protests of July 11, 2021.
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