Beefed-up security measures that have followed 9/11 are not just keeping
terrorists from entering the United States. Foreign musicians are
finding it harder to tour here.
Sierra Maestra is the latest musical act to fall victim to tighter
security checks. The crack Cuban band was to have performed tonight at
Waterplace Park, as part of a concert series sponsored by the Providence
Parks Department.
But the show was canceled late Wednesday, after the group's visa
application got stalled in the FBI.
"It's a sign of the times," Bob Rizzo, who heads the department's
cultural affairs office, said yesterday.
This problem is not new. Several musicians were unable to get visas in
time to appear at last summer's Newport Music Festival. But things seem
to have gotten worse since the FBI got into the act about a year ago,
said David Gaar, Sierra Maestra's Texas-based booking agent.
It used to be that performing acts could count on getting a visa in a
couple of months. They could even pay extra if they wanted to speed up
the process. But that's when they were dealing with just the federal
immigration service.
Now that FBI checks are required, the process is more convoluted.
"It now can be a week, six months, or however long it's going to take,"
said Gaar, who owns Ritmo Artists in Austin, Texas.
"It's frustrating," said Gaar. "I understand the need for added security
in these times we live in. But there has to be some recourse."
Andrea Simmons, a special agent for the FBI in Washington, declined
comment, saying the agency doesn't discuss ongoing investigations.
Rizzo, who heard about the visa snafu Monday, asked the office of Sen.
Jack Reed to help. Reed wrote a letter to James C. Cason, chief of
mission in the U.S. Interest Section in the Swiss Embassy in Havana --
the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Cuba -- but
was unable to resolve the matter in time for tonight's concert. The
Waterplace date was meant to be the first stop in a tour that would
include Central Park in New York, as well as venues in Chicago and Los
Angeles.
Rizzo said he was surprised at the problem, since the paperwork for the
troupe seemed to be on track. The immigration service had given the band
initial approval to tour back in April.
The nine members of Sierra Maestra, one of the most popular bands in the
Caribbean, are not the only Cuban musicians who won't be visiting the
United States this summer. Vocalist Isaac Delgado and Afro-Cuban pianist
Chuco Valdez both had to cancel after failing to get FBI checks in time.
Valdez was to play Carnegie Hall, said Gaar.
Could it be the government is singling out Cubans because of strained
relations with their island homeland? Gaar wonders, but can't say for
sure.
Even if applications by talent from unfriendly nations are not getting
placed at the bottom of the pile, the process seems, at best, like a
crapshoot.
"We have had other groups whose applications have been turned around in
a week," said Gaar.
Gaar is hoping that pressure from other senators besides Reed will get
the FBI to act in time to salvage at least part of the tour.
Whatever the outcome, Gaar said, he finds it ironic that the federal
government has succeeded in protecting us from a "bunch of 60-year-old
Cubans carrying guitars."
He called Sierra Maestra, which has visited the United States in the
past, a "people-to-people group" that can help bridge the political
differences between nations.
"This sort of cultural exchange," he said, "is a lot more effective than
a 40-year-old blockade that has accomplished absolutely nothing."
