Officials at the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission here, could not be immediately reached for comment after hours on Tuesday. The State Department in Washington declined to comment. And telephone calls to the Latin Recording Academy, which puts on the awards ceremony, were not immediately returned on Tuesday evening. Acosta told reporters about the artists' inability to obtain visas during a small ceremony held to deliver the small golden gramophones awarded to Cuban artists last year, when the gala ceremony was canceled after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
The awards Cuban artists won last year arrived here from Los Angeles last week and went to producers Cary Diez and Joaquin Betancourt for the recording “La Rumba soy yo,” of Bis-Music. The Latin Grammys honor a range of Latin music styles, such as flamenco and ranchera.
Acosta charged that the visa issue was aimed at “limiting the cultural exchange” between Americans and Cubans.
While the American government has denied U.S. visas to prominent Cubans in the past, those denials have been reserved mostly for senior officials in Fidel Castro's government. Cultural figures usually obtain U.S. visas without problems.
But in recent months, such visas have been increasingly denied to other high-profile Cubans who do not hold senior government jobs.
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