Cubans blame sponsor for Grammy no-shows

By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer, 9/3/2003

HAVANA -- Cuban authorities blamed the Latin Grammys sponsor of bowing to pressure from Miami-based exiles and deliberately preventing Cuban musicians from attending the awards ceremonies on Wednesday night.

Deputy Culture Minister Abel Acosta said the Latin Recording Academy failed to send letters of invitation that the nominees needed to apply for U.S. visas.

Acosta, who held a news conference along with several of the nominated musicians Wednesday, said the letters never arrived even though officials early on reminded academy representatives of the complicated visa process.

Cuban citizens must undergo a lengthier and more extensive review given that the communist island appears on the United States' list of countries that sponsor terrorism. The process can take eight to 10 weeks.

"They've fixed everything to make money and to not have problems with the Miami mafia," Acosta said, repeating the derogatory nickname officials here often use to refer to anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the southern Florida city.

Latin Recording Academy President Gabriel Abaroa was not immediately available for comment, academy spokesman Harold Hamana said.

A U.S. official speaking on customary condition of anonymity said on Tuesday that the State Department had waived the letter requirement because the Latin Grammys are so well known.

Cuban officials went ahead and submitted the visa applications without the letters for three of the musicians who were in Cuba at the time and for four companions, Acosta said.

He said all three applications were denied -- for Juan Formell, leader of the popular group Los Van Van, which was nominated for Best Contemporary Tropical Album; Zenaida Romeu, a musician nominated for Best Flamenco Album; and Diosdado Ramos, leader of the Munequitos de Matanzas, which was nominated for Best Folk Album.

State Department officials confirmed Tuesday that three of seven visa applications had been denied, and that four applications were still pending, but did not release the names for confidentiality reasons.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday that none of the Cubans would be able to attend because the visa applications arrived too late to be processed.

"They're not going to make it," he said.

Although the Academy did not send the invitation letters to the musicians, it did send tickets necessary for admission to the event -- not only to the nominees but to now-dead musicians including the late Compay Segundo, Frank Emilio and Armando Romeu, an indignant Acosta told reporters.

"That is a lack of respect," he said.

A 112-member delegation from Cuba had planned to attend the awards, Acosta said. Now, none will attend. In solidarity with the excluded nominees, Cuban musicians who live outside of the country were to boycott the event Wednesday night in Miami, Acosta said.

The nominees in Cuba, meanwhile, said they would perform a concert in Havana on Thursday as an alternative. Musicians who did not receive U.S. visas on time last year did the same thing.

A coalition of dozens of Cuban exile groups had planned to protest outside the Grammys if Cuban musicians attended but said Tuesday night they would call off the demonstration if the visas weren't granted.

"If the agents of Castro aren't coming, we don't see a need to protest," said coalition spokesman Francisco Garcia. "We would be taking away from the Grammys show."