[Marxism] US bars 76-yr-old Cuban musician/TERRORIST!

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

US denies travel visas to Grammy-nominated Cuban musicians: Cuban
officials

Agence France Presse, vendredi, 6 fev. 2004

 HAVANA (AFP) - The United States refused to grant visas to
world-renowned Cuban musicians who were invited to Sunday?s Grammy music
awards, Cuban officials said.

Ibrahim Ferrer, the 76-year-old singer from the Grammy-nominated Buena
Vista Social Club, was dumbfounded to learn that, according to the Cuban
Music Institute, the United States invoked a law that applies to
terrorists, drug dealers and dangerous criminals to deny him a visa.

?I don?t understand because I don?t feel I?m a terrorist. I am not, I
can?t be,? he said at a news conference.

Ferrer has won three Grammys in recent years and has traveled to the
United States in the past.

The other celebrated musicians who were denied visas were guitarist
Manuel Galvan, pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba, percussionist Amadito
Valdes, lute player Barbarito Torres and singer Eugenio Rodriguez.

The Cuban Music Institute called the US action a ?new offense against
Cuban culture and people.?

?This policy is really hypocritical,? said Abel Acosta, vice minister of
culture and president of the music institute. ?It?s the most arbitrary
in the world. They give visas to whom they want when they want to.?

The Grammy-nominated musicians applied for their visas on December 24 at
the US Interests Section in Havana.

 The artists were interviewed by US consular officials on December 29
and were told of their visa denial Wednesday.

 Last year, Cubans who were nominated to the Latin Grammys in Miami were
also denied entry visas.

 The United States broke diplomatic ties with the communist island more
than 40 years ago.



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