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Sure, the State Department cleared the NY Philharmonic to go to Cuba next month, but the donors who helped fund that trip weren't allowed, so it's all off! The Philharmonic said, "We have been told by officials at the Treasury Department that the current regulations governing travel to Cuba does not provide for this particular category of people"—rich patrons of the arts—"Without (their) support, this trip is not financially possible."
According to Arts Beat, 150 individuals had helped underwrite the trip at $10,000 a pop. Philharmonic president Zarin Mehta pointed out, "The patrons were excited about giving us the money with the opportunity of going to see Havana and be a witness and support their orchestra... I wouldn’t want to insult them. I think it’s most likely they would say, 'Go another time.'" The Philharmonic hopes that noisy lawmakers like Senator Schumer and Reps. Israel and Rangel will help them convince the Treasury Department to let the patrons go.
Last year, the Philharmonic made a historic trip to North Korea.
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Well, the Treasury Dept and Cuban Communists have one things in common. They both want certain things but don't like the people who actually pay for them.
Sorry, Cubans, we want to bridge the divide between our nations with our beautiful music, but only if we get to prove how rich we are to our fellow Americans in the process.
They'll always have Pyongyang.
BTW, have those bouquets from Dear Leader gone brown yet?
That's too bad - I would think that poor young latinas from the favelas would be smitten by rich "patron of the arts"...
musical diplomacy is bullshit
People who want to visit Cuba will have to wait until the year 2011, when following our complete economic collapse Cuba decides to invade us in order to install a puppet government.
OK, I meant ANOTHER puppet government.
Fifty years on, and the US government is still terrified by Fidel and still trying to bring him down.
LOL
So more "change we can believe in"? Why am I not surprised? The idea that we'll bring Cuba to its knees by not allowing them to hear the NY Philharmonic in their own country is "refreshing". After all, that policy worked well against the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, right? Oh I forgot, we allowed the NY Phil and other US orchestras to tour throughout the USSR, the GDR and even Communist China. But when it comes to Cuba, we have a prejudiced political policy. No one can say that the ideology is different between the USSR and Cuba and this difference justifies the differing treatment since both nations are/were both Communist. I wonder what other reason there could be to explain this? Can it be that Barack, Hillary and others are allowing our foreign policy to fall victim to the inertia of race-based prejudice simply because they don't care? Or are they being more Macchiavelian than that?