MIAMI – Colombian singer Juanes said in an interview published Wednesday by The Miami Herald that he would pay $300,000 out of his own pocket to cover the costs of the concert he planned to stage in Havana on Sept. 20.

Juanes said his representatives had not found any sponsors for the concert and he had decided to cover all the costs himself.

“I don’t need to do this. I’m doing this because I really believe that music is powerful,” the singer told The Herald.

The Colombian artist said the concert had nothing to do with politics.

“Our only message is one of peace, of humanitarianism, of tolerance, a message of interacting with the people,” Juanes said.

“Nobody called us, nobody invited us to Havana,” Juanes said. “I am not a communist. I am not aligned with the government. I’m not going to Cuba to play for the Cuban regime.”

Juanes’s concert has drawn sharp criticism from some Cuban exile groups in Miami that contend the message should be about bringing freedom to the Cuban people, the release of political prisoners and respect for human rights.

A number of Cuban exile groups, however, have expressed support for Juanes’s concert in the Cuban capital.

“I cannot give answers to all these questions people are asking me” about the political situation in Cuba, Juanes told The Herald. “It’s not my strength. It’s not something I can control ... We are musicians, not politicians.”

Juanes will be joined in Havana by Spanish singer Miguel Bose and Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañon, as well as Cuban performers Silvio Rodriguez and Los Van Van. EFE