Trump Admin: Cuban Jazz Music “Inconsistent” with U.S. Policy

The issue. The Washington State Clark College Jazz Band planned to visit Cuba to learn about Cuban jazz and share experiences with local music students, but their trip was blocked at the last minute by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

What happened. Clark’s students were going to travel to Cuba through a general “support for the Cuban people” licence, which, unlike a specific license, would not require authorization from OFAC. But when the school tried to send a wire transfer to the tour company organizing the trip, Bank of America froze the money and reported the transfer to OFAC. Clark College requested the funds be released and applied to OFAC for a specific license for the trip. The school’s request was denied by OFAC two days before the group was scheduled to travel. 

Jazz “inconsistent” with U.S. policy. OFAC’s March 25th letter denying the license claimed that Clark’s request “to attend several presentations on Cuban jazz music and participate in musical cultural exchanges with Cuban musical students, as described in the Application, would be inconsistent with U.S. Government policy.”

What to make of this. The letter does not explain how cultural exchanges between U.S. and Cuban students are contrary to U.S. policy. It does, however, hint at who made this determination. The OFAC letter to Clark says the decision was made “after careful consideration, including consultation with the U.S. Department of State.” The State Department is headed by Cuban-American hardliner Marco Rubio, who oversees Cuba policy along with his right-hand man, Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone. 

Some context. Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, several travelers have reported harassment upon returning to the U.S. Meanwhile, travel from Cuba to the U.S. is also proving difficult. Recently, Cuban music students were denied U.S. visas to visit Berkeley High School. 

Cuba-U.S. cultural exchanges boomed during Obama’s opening with Cuba. But U.S. policy toward Cuba under Trump and Biden has cut off relations between artists in both countries. Nevertheless, Cuban jazz musicians living in the U.S. have continued to maintain strong ties with Cuba, often supporting Cuban students.