Los Frikis or the Frikis is a Cuban punk subculture that originated in the 1980s.[1] As Cuban radio stations rarely played rock music, Frikis often listened to music by picking up radio frequencies from stations in nearby Florida.[2] Many Frikis in the early 1990s entered AIDS clinics by knowingly injecting HIV-positive blood into themselves in order to have enough to eat and a safe place to sleep and live.[3] Others began congregating at a community centre in Havana called El patio de María which was one of the few venues in the city that allowed rock bands to play live music. It was shut down by the Cuban government in 2003 because too many Frikis (with ties to El Patio de María) sang too many songs with lyrics against the Castro regime.[4]
Some Frikis also participate or participated in squatting as an act of political defiance, especially since affordable housing was and is a problem in many places in Cuba.[5]
In a 2017 article for Time Out, journalist Jake Newby described the movement as in decline, due to "only a handful of Los Frikis remain[ing]."[6]
- ^ Saeed, Abdullah. "Why a Community of Punks Chose to Infect Themselves with HIV in Castro's Cuba". Vice Media. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ Tim Howard, Luis Trelles. Los Frikis (Audio). Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ "Los Frikis, ces punks cubains qui s'inoculaient le virus du sida pour vivre dans des sanatoriums". Vice Media. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ "When Havana was Friki: AIDS, Politics and Heavy Metal in Cuba". Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Los Frikis, ces punks cubains qui s'inoculaient le virus du sida pour vivre dans des sanatoriums". Vice Media. Retrieved 23 March 2020.[dead link]
- ^ Newby, Jake. "From Shanghai with love: The story behind a China-produced Cuban punk compilation". Time Out. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
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