Once Again US Denies Visas for Cuban Grammy 2004 Contenders

Thursday, February 12 2004 @ 02:36 PM EST

(Prensa Latina - Cumbancha - Insider's Music) Havana, Cuba - Once again, the United States government denied visas for a prestigious delegation of Cuban musicians to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, February 8, in Los Angeles. In a situation similar to what happened with the Latin Grammy in Miami, the Recording Academy sent the invitation letters demanded by US government procedures to travel to the US. The required documents were immediately presented by the Cuban institutions to the US Interests Section in Havana.

It is even more outrageous that the denial of visas for the Cuban delegation is justified under section 212 (f) of the US Immigration Law related to terrorists, assassins, drug-dealers and everyone who is considered a menace to US national security. Inside and outside Cuba, the ethical, moral and human values of guitarist Manuel Galbán, Eugenio Rodríguez, leader of the Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro, lute player Barbarito Torres, excellent percussionist Amadito Valdés, and the Cuban music glories Ibrahim Ferrer and Guillermo Rubalcaba are a known quantity. Their fame is in Cuba and abroad, as well as their sense of loyalty, patriotism and their extraordinary artistic talent.

More than 13,000 professional musicians of revolutionary Cuba cultivate these values, and that is precisely why this attempt to besmirch the nation's culture is made. The Cuban Music Institute denounces this new insult to Cuba's culture and its people, while it thanks the organizers for trying to help the Cuban musicians attend the Grammy ceremony. Unfortunately – it said - the US people were deprived of enjoying these honorable exponents of universal Cuban music. Someday, when there is no blockade, manipulations, or threats, both countries' peoples will enjoy each other's music in peace.

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[Photo of Ibrahim Ferrer].

World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20040212123619342