In the Venezuela Maduro’s twists and turns do not cease in this December 2023. The month began with the referendum on the Esequibo (3 December), whose controversial results (with numbers of votes apparently inflated by the Bolivarian government) had led to the worsening of relations diplomatic with the Guyana and resulting international tensions across the region. Following this, just before Christmas, other unexpected and if we want even sensational news: the exchange of prisoners agreed with Joe Biden (through the mediation of Qatar) which brought the Colombian entrepreneur back to Caracas Alex Saab.
There were 36 political prisoners exchanged by Maduro (of which 12 Americans) in the context of the negotiations of the Barbados with the Venezuelan opposition (supported by the USA) to once again embrace Saab, arrested in Cape Verde in June 2020 and extradited to the United States in October 2021: the accusation was that of being the Venezuelan president’s ironhead and of having laundered 350 million dollars to make investments in the United States of America.
“I want to welcome this brave man (…). After 1,280 days of kidnapping, the truth has triumphed” celebrated Nicolas Maduro in a pompous public ceremony held at the Miraflores Palace together with Alex Saab. But not satisfied with the truth, Maduro’s government has also worked hard to resolve one of the cases that most shocked Venezuela in the post-Chávez era. It is about the death of the beloved Cancerbero rapper, whose story, a few hours ago, found a turning point.
Read Also
Gag to reporters, the Fnsi mobilization against the Costa amendment begins: “Walk in front of the buildings of power”
Since the afternoon of December 26th, the implications of the “Canserbero case” have been bouncing around the major news agencies and information channels of the American continent. It’s about a video confession released by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Venezuelan rapper’s former manager Natalia Amésticain which the woman explains how the murder of Canserbero and Carlos Molnar occurred, the January 20, 2015. The two were allegedly drugged with Alpram, and subsequently stabbed by Améstica herself, who would later dispose of the bodies, staging a murder-suicide, with the help of her brother. Natalia was not only Canserbero’s manager but she also had a relationship with Molnarthe bassist who accompanied the Latin American rap star.
The previous version of events from that January day 8 years ago described an argument between Molnar and Canserbero, in which the latter killed the bassist and then took his own life. Version that was never accepted by fans and by those who knew Canserbero, doubts that with Améstica’s confession made known in these Christmas hours, seem to find feedback.
In the confession, the woman can be heard explaining the reason for this gesture, which can be traced back to disagreements deriving from the failure to pay the percentage due to the manager and Canserbero’s desire to end the professional relationship with the woman. However, there is no shortage of skeptics who do not believe Améstica’s confession and speak of a montage to increase popular consensus towards Maduro (using the much loved figure of Canserbero), in view of the 2024 presidential elections.
A name, that of Canserbero, which in our latitudes probably says little but which in Venezuela and in general in Spanish-speaking Latin America, It has a strong artistic and emotional appeal. Yes, because the story regarding the Venezuelan rap singer Tirone Jose Gonzalez Orama (Caracas 1988) who died in an alleged murder-suicide case in Maracay (capital of the Aragua state) had always aroused suspicion. Tirone José, who chose the artistic name of Canserbero referring to the famous mythological figure Cerberus (canis cerberus in Latin, fantastic animal of the underworld that guards the entrance to Hades in ancient Greece) quickly became one of the symbolic figures of rap in Latin America, so much so that, for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of rap , the American magazine Rolling Stones crowned him in October 2023 as the best Spanish-language rapper ever.
“With profound lyrics, an unmistakable voice and an attitude of solid authenticity, Canserbero needed little time to become one of the emblematic figures of rap in Latin America. Her songs tell a story complex and dark stories, they are profound reflections on life, death, injustice and the road”, is how he defines it Rolling Stonesconsecrating him in the Olympus of music, a fact that for the fans of the young Venezuelan who passed away just 27 years old it was already an established fact.
Read also from Daniele Luttazzi’s blog
Gunshots, Mozzarella funerals and “not even death in Chicago”
There are many aspects of Cansebero’s life that make him a mysterious icon, of sorts cursed poet modern such as the fact that his first solo album in 2010 was titled Life (Life) and his last recording (2012) before what we now discover was his assassination, was called Death (Death). And right inside Muerte there is one of his greatest masterpieces, It’s epicin whose text Canserbero dies, after having avenged his brother, and once he arrives in hell he decides to challenge the Devil himself in a rap battle.
To date, anywhere in Venezuela, enough said “Y el corazón tucum, tucum-tucum” to find the complicit gaze of those who remember Canserbero rapport with the Devil, the same Devil who who knows today will be smiling in the face of a definitive (perhaps) truth about the fate of this enormous artist who died too young.