I never thought you could be kicked out of your country because of a song.
But that’s exactly what happened.
I really haven’t had much time to follow the news here in Quito because of all the work involved in handling my late father’s house.
But one story I heard, I couldn’t shake. It’s about Alondra Santiago.
She came to Ecuador with her mother and her brother when she was 13 years old. She had been living and working in Quito and ran a YouTube Channel called “The ungovernable.”
She sang one song criticizing the president, and the government revoked her permanent residency visa the next month, forcing her to leave the country within five days.
The government claimed that Alondra Santiago “engaged in activities that threatened public security and the structure of the state.”
In other words, she sang a song. A song the president didn’t like.
And it didn’t matter to him that Santiago’s mother is Ecuadorian. That makes Santiago Ecuadorian by birth regardless of where she was born, according to the constitution.
Santiago’s mother is an actress and a professor of performing arts.
That’s why it comes as no surprise to me that Santiago would express political opinions in an art form.
So why would the president of Ecuador, the son of a banana billionaire, take so much offense to one short, melodic song? The song includes parts of the national anthem and says:
“This is our national anthem, but the president can’t even sing it or learn it. All he’s interested in is looking taller, but he doesn’t measure up, not even to his shoes, when it comes to governing.”
Ouch. That must’ve been it. The president is reportedly 5 ft 5 and has been widely criticized on social media for wearing platform shoes.
The song and Santiago are just the latest casualties in a country where the president arrested his main political rival, Luisa González, banned her political party, just before the national election at the end of this month.
He’s also jailed the popular mayor of Guayaquil (the country’s largest city) who is a key political rival, and an outspoken critic.
A Polish journalist was killed. She was reporting on alleged cocaine seizures in banana containers linked to the president’s family. The government initially claimed she had committed suicide. Later they admitted she was murdered.
I am not naming the president, because I don’t want to end up detained when I have to get back to Toronto. But I now know how it feels to live in a dictatorship.
Like a taxi driver told me when I asked him about the news. “News, I have no time to follow the news. Everything’s good here, I’m good, you’re good, we’re all good.”
If you don’t agree with the dictator, keep your mouth shut, your head down, and mind your own business.
I tried.
