Miami Arena To Host Displaced Cuban Concert

A Los Van Van concert has been moved to Miami Arena after representatives of the Cuban band and Miami's James L. Knight Center -- which was tentatively scheduled to host the show -- were unable to reach agreement on liability insurance issues.

Los Van Van will now play at Miami Arena on Oct. 9, the same night that a Bay of Pigs veterans group will show an anti-Castro movie at the Knight Center, the Miami Herald reported. The two venues are about a mile apart.

Los Van Van originally was scheduled to play at the Knight Center on Oct. 9, but the facility's management cancelled the show under pressure from city officials and anti-Castro activists. The cancellation set off a battle between those who supported the band's freedom of expression and a faction of protestors from Miami's sizable population of Cuban exiles.

A tentative deal struck earlier this month between representatives of Los Van Van, the American Civil Liberties Union, and management at the city-owned Knight Center would have allowed the band to play a rescheduled show at the Knight Center on Oct. 11. The agreement called for the band to prove that it wasn't profiting from the performance, which its representatives did by providing documentation from the Treasury Department. (Under the current U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Cuban bands are allowed to perform in the U.S. because of cultural exchange exemptions, but may only receive a per-diem and may not profit.)

Negotiations reportedly broke down again when the concert's promoter wouldn't agree to secure liability insurance to cover the venue's losses if disturbances on the night of the concert forced the Knight Center to cancel other events.

As negotiations dragged on with Knight Center management last week, concert promoter Debbie Ohanian contacted Miami Arena and quickly hammered out a deal, according to the Herald.

Though Miami Arena is a quasi-public facility managed by the Miami Exhibition Authority, city officials quoted by the Herald said they don't have a legal right to call off the show.

Tickets for the Los Van Van show at Miami Arena are expected to go on sale by mid-week. The band is in the midst of a two month North American tour that has drawn numerous critical raves.