Obama's Policy on issuing Visas to Cuban Artists

Today, August 4, 2010, the president of the United States of America – Barac Obama – celebrates his 49th birthday. Until now, he has not been able to alleviate the political tension between the U.S. and Cuba, causing the former to automatically classify Cuban musicians as members of the communist party and as employees of the Cuban government.

This political tension results in Cubans to get a headache when going through the tedious and lengthy process of applying for a US visa . The international musicians have to deal with visa requirements, rising restrictions, U.S. immigration protocols, costly fees and a huge pile of paperwork. The core reason for this problem lies in the fact that the U.S. government has a list of four nations depicted as  “state sponsors of terrorism”, with Cuba being one of them. These countries allegedly deny any extradition of U.S. nationals wanted by the U.S. government agencies and supported rebels in Spain and Colombia. This means that Cuban musicians are perceived as criminals or terrorists planning attacks against the United States. This biased perception leads to racial profiling of Cuban artists by the U.S. immigration agencies.

This clip shows a Cuban Cabaret show most Americans will not want miss.

The administration of president Obama managed to improve foreign policy relations between the United States and Cuba by lifting restrictions on visas by Cuban-Americans to Cuba, and his government also did its best to improve the level of cultural exchanges, but this betterment has not made it easier for Cuban artists to enter the States. Immigration attorney and a leading expert in cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Cuba – Bill Martinez – has used his expertise in getting artists' visas to help several international artists such as Silvio Rodriguez http://www.onlinesalsa.com/news/pro-castro-singer-is-granted-visa-by-the-u-s to come to the United States and play for grateful and large audiences. Martinez said, “It is a procedural mechanical process, but you have to go through that to respect the union because the union has to protect their membership.” The process goes faster if an artist can prove that he or she is an international artist coming into the U.S. with a set agenda and having a legitimate purpose.

Martinez has worked with international Cuban artists such as Munequitos de Matanzas, Irakere and Los Van Van among others.