Cuba’s freedom by way of Baroque opera

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was a great German-British Baroque composer of many types of music, including the famous oratorio Messiah. His opera Rinaldo (1711) includes a celebrated aria which I have long loved, but it was only recently that I realized its chief lines (in Italian) are particularly apt for Cubans and their experience:

Lascia ch’io pianga
mia cruda sorte,
e che sospiri
la libertà

They translate to:

Let me weep over
my cruel fate,
and let me sigh for
freedom.

Here is one rendition of the aria, which is very beautiful and very moving:

May God hear in those words a plea for Cuba’s deliverance.