Read: The History Of Rock In Latin America - Cuban Rock And The Revolution

From NPR Music: Fidel Castro didn't like rock music. Or hippies. In 1968, he launched a "revolutionary offensive" aimed at eliminating all remnants of capitalism. He also closed Havana's nightclubs for a year.

Castro aimed to cure Cuba once and for all of "ideological deviants," which included long-haired youth, homosexuals and any others the authorities simply had reason to mistrust. For Cuban authorities, The Beatles were viewed as harbingers of an imperialist offensive out to corrupt young Cuban minds.

Over the next two years, thousands of youth were swept up in a repressive crackdown. Among those caught in this burst of revolutionary fervor were two relatively unknown singer-songwriters whose names would become legendary a decade later: Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés. FULL ARTICLE HERE