Posted on 11/15/2004 2:47:20 PM PST by JesseHousman
LAS VEGAS - In what appears to be the largest mass defection of Cuban performers to date, 44 dancers, singers and musicians, here to stage a revue, plan to seek political asylum in the United States, members of the troupe said Sunday.
Most of the artists intend to deliver their applications for asylum this morning at the federal building here, the performers said in interviews at the Stardust Resort and Casino, where their ''Havana Night Club'' revue is to have a three-month run.
Seven other members of the ensemble have already sought asylum from United States officials in Berlin. Those performers were scheduled to travel to Las Vegas in time for a benefit show tonight.
''The only thing we regret is that our families in Cuba may suffer,'' Puro Hernández, 31, the troupe's musical director, said. ``But the Cuban government left us no choice. They put us between the sword and a wall.''
Members of the cast said they had defied Cuban officials' orders in early summer not to seek U.S. entry visas. But once the visas were granted, Cuban officials eventually allowed the troupe to leave Cuba. They did so, the cast members said, because the issue had received media attention in the United States and because the government of Fidel Castro did not want to be seen as impeding the flow of culture.
ACTOR PLAYED ROLE
In addition, organizers of the show said, several influential people worked to try to get permission for the trip, including actor Kevin Costner, who contacted the Cuban Interests Section in Washington on the group's behalf.
Pamela Falk, a law professor at the City University of New York who worked to reunite the family of Orlando Hernández, the Yankees pitcher, also worked behind the scenes, meeting members of the group as they arrived from Cuba at the Cancún airport in Mexico and escorting them to the United States.
After many delays, about two-thirds of the cast's members were able to leave Cuba and take part in an abbreviated version of their show at the Stardust here in late August. It will open with its full complement of players on Tuesday, after a press conference today at which the defections will be announced officially.
Despite four decades of a U.S.-imposed trade embargo against Cuba, cultural exchanges between the two countries have often passed under the radar, but they recently have received harsher scrutiny.
This year, U.S. authorities denied visas to Ibrahim Ferrer, who gained worldwide fame as a member of Buena Vista Social Club, and pianist Chucho Valdés, among other Cuban artists.
In October 2003, five dancers with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba defected while on tour in the United States.
Cast members of ''Havana Night Club,'' most of them in their 20s and 30s, have performed in 17 countries -- including Britain, Germany, Japan and Spain -- since the troupe was founded seven years ago. They said they decided to stay in the United States after authorities in Cuba told them they could be jailed or, at the very least, would not be allowed to continue working as professional artists in Cuba if they persisted in their plan to work in Las Vegas.
''This was not our intent,'' Ariel Machado, 33, the group's manager, said as he discussed the defections. ``We all have families in Cuba.''
`OPPORTUNITIES'
''It's almost impossible to live apart from the people we love, but you realize when you're out of Cuba that you have opportunities to do important things,'' said Machado, who received an engineering degree before entering show business. ``You assume a responsibility for your family, and you can't rest until you do everything possible to help them.''
He said that when he tried to explain his position to officials of Cuba's Ministry of Culture, ``they left me in no doubt that if I continued with this project, I ran the risk of going to jail for ignoring the government's wishes.''
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They are spies; send them all back.
The Cuban government (thugs) already know about their desire to leave the socialist utopia.
Wonder why they would want to come to America when all the sensible people are heading to Canada?
I think you're right.
But according to Redford, Spielberg, Sarandon, and the rest of the traitorous left wing starlets, Cuba is an artist's paradise. Why they even asked the artists themselves when visiting Castro's commie paradise.
Perhaps some are Muslim-Cubans.
Excellent point. I don't see any of the vermin you just mentioned fleeing to Cuba.
I guess these POS media just don't want anymore Cubans that desire and study for American citizenship and then vote conservative!
They're hoping that their blaring out the intent will get thse anti-communists out of our country.
When do they start collecting their monthly kiss in the mail?
Would you mind expounding on that?
Answer: a Cuban Symphony after an European tour.
Someone tell Ed Asner that Cuba now has a vacancy for him.
APf
Would you mind expounding on that?
Sure. When do they start collecting social security, welfare, food stamps, medicaid, free college tuition, .....
Yeah, they're working.
What part of "(the show) will open with its full complement of players on Tuesday" do you fail to understand?
Are they going to do the show free?
Here, ladies and gentleman, we have an example of how to do it right. 1. They're going through the legal process. 2. They have skills that will benefit American society. 3. They are genuinely threatened by their government.
But how many are Castro agents?
Asylum Papers In, It's Back to Work for Cuban Dancers
We wouldn't want the world to know that Castro's Cuba is not the workers' paradise the Times wants its readers to believe it is, would we? So, we aren't going to use loaded words like "asylum" and "defection." Absolutely amazing.
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