Coalition Giving Latin Grammys a Rough Reception in Miami

Only three weeks before the Latin Grammys are scheduled to make their Miami debut, a dispute over Cuban exiles voicing their anti-communist views is threatening to send the gala packing.

A coalition of at least 60 Cuban American groups is demanding the right to demonstrate within view and earshot of the U.S. and foreign media that will converge on AmericanAirlines Arena on Sept. 11 to cover the show celebrating the best in Spanish-language music.

Grammy organizers have demanded the establishment of a “security zone” around the downtown venue to keep protesters at a distance, according to media reports, but an agreement appears elusive.

“Our primary responsibility is to guarantee and ensure the safety of our artists, nominees and attendees,” said Ron Roecker, director of communications for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammys’ organizer, on Saturday.

“We have always known there were going to be protesters,” he continued. “We believe in their right of freedom of expression, etc., but we have to be able to guarantee . . . the safety of the attendees.”

The exiles adamantly oppose any participation in the Grammys by Cuban musicians, arguing that they turn the event into a propaganda platform for the Communist regime of Fidel Castro.

Still vivid in Miami are memories of the unfriendly welcome some exiles gave the visiting Cuban group Los Van Van two years ago, when they pelted concert-goers with rocks.

“We have to secure the perimeter,” Roecker said. “There is a specific area where we have agreed to have protesters, but that has not come to fruition.”

In this dispute, the American Civil Liberties Union has sided squarely with the Cuban American organizations.

“The 1st Amendment protects everyone regardless of their point of view,” Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, president of the ACLU’s Greater Miami Chapter, told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper of Fort Lauderdale. “Now we’re fighting to protect the rights of people in Miami to protest the possible appearance of Cuban artists at the event.”

On Friday, Mayor Joe Carollo attempted to broker a compromise that would confine protesters to a location near the arena, but across the street. That site has yet to be formally approved by the coalition or Latin Grammy organizers.

The resulting uncertainty has fueled speculation that the Latin Grammys could be moved out of Miami and even back to Los Angeles, where the show was held at Staples Center last year.

“We’re not commenting on that now,” Roecker said. “We are committed to South Florida, though.”

A change in venue would be a major embarrassment for Miami, which lobbied intensely to get the Grammys. Those efforts were boosted by the leading Cuban American political organization, the Cuban American National Foundation, whose chairman, Jorge Mas Santos, flew to Los Angeles to lobby the music industry.

Foundation leaders are concerned that Cuban Americans’ actions in the past have sometimes made them appear intolerant and fanatical to other Americans. Miami-Dade County even had a law barring Cuban performers from county-owned facilities until the Supreme Court invalidated it a year ago.

“Miami is seen as the international hub for Latin music and the Latin community,” Roecker said. “We originally planned having it [the Latin Grammys] in Miami last year, but there were ordinances in Miami county that prevented Cubans from participating.”

Roecker said show organizers have not yet set a deadline for a decision to stay at the Miami site. But Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Miami Herald that C. Michael Greene, the Grammys’ president and chief executive, phoned Friday to ask whether an arena in suburban Sunrise would be free Sept. 11.