The caravan was protesting the decision by organizers of the program to move the show to Los Angeles, which was followed by a spate of cancellations of Cuban performances. The move was announced in late August after groups opposed to the Cuban Revolution announced they were moving ahead with plans to disrupt the September 11 event.

The reactionary organizations were infuriated by the fact that artists from socialist Cuba had been nominated for awards and were not going to be excluded from the ceremony.

The caravan featured a large RV blaring music by Cuban artists Los Van Van, Buena Vista Social Club, Carlos Puebla, and others. Many bystanders and others expressed support for the action. There were also a few hostile responses.

The Antonio Maceo Brigade (BAM), the Miami Coalition Against the U.S. Embargo of Cuba, and the Alianza Martiana were among the sponsoring organizations. According to protest organizer Andrés Gómez of BAM, who spoke at the Militant Labor Forum the night before the protest, the caravan was the continuation of a 40-year fight for cultural freedom in the city.

The protests against the Grammy award ceremonies were a continuation of the attempts by anti-Cuba organizations to dictate whether artists can perform or not based on their politics, Gómez told the gathering.

Later that day, 10,000 people gathered at the American Airlines Arena to celebrate the Virgin del Cobre, who is Cuba's "patron saint" in the Catholic religion. The event was presented as a show of force by the right wing in the city. "Cuba will be free soon if all the Cubans back there and those around the world pray to the Virgin," Miami mayor Joseph Carollo told the crowd. It was the 40th year of celebrating the saint's day in Miami.  
 
Campaign of intimidation
Leading up to the awards ceremony about 100 organizations had been discussing with the Miami police their plans for Grammy night protests. Carollo supported a protest site directly across the street from the Arena, at the foot of the so-called "Freedom Tower," which is owned by the Cuban American National Foundation. It was this shift to a closer protest site that prompted the organizers of the Grammy ceremony to shift the venue to Los Angeles.

Grammy president C. Michael Greene told the press August 20 that the week before the no-protest zone surrounding the Arena "was abruptly changed by officials from the city of Miami.

"To further compound this problem, we then learned that more than 100 Cuban-American groups now would be allowed to demonstrate in a high-traffic area for Grammy activities, potentially putting our guests at serious risk. Further, the Academy was made aware that protesters had secured tickets to the show and were organizing a disruption to the live telecast itself."

The list of organizations planning to protest included a number with records of terrorist activity. Alpha 66, Brigada de Asalto 2506, Comandos F-4, Directorio Insurreccional Nacionalista, Grupo Táctico de Combate, Movimiento Insurreccional Martiano, and Vigilia Mambisa had all announced they would join the action.

The Cuban American National Foundation was also organizing a separate protest, even though their president, Jorge Mas Santos, the son of the late Jorge Mas Canosa, was one of the co-chairs of the "host committee" for the awards concert.

Greene attacked the Cuban Revolution when he told the Miami Herald that Cuban president Fidel Castro "could have very easily sent thugs in, to turn what could have been a peaceful protest into something--all he's got to do is get five people with rocks and batteries and it suddenly erupts." Greene subsequently said he had been told "a hundred times" that Cuban agents might whip up the demonstrators and that "all I was doing was repeating what city officials told me."

Seven Cuban artists have been nominated for awards this year, including Omara Portuondo, Issac Delgado, Chucho Valdés, Celina González, and Lázaro Ross. All will be attending the awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Two performances by Cubanismo! scheduled for March 2002 were canceled a week after the pullout of the Grammies. The orchestra had been scheduled to perform in Melbourne about three hours up the coast from Miami, and in West Palm Beach, which is closer to Miami.

John Lochen, who was organizing the tour, told the press the group was informed there would be no show "due to the usual outside pressure from the Cuban community." The director of the Kravitz Center in West Palm Beach told the press she canceled the performance after meeting with leaders of Cuban-American exile groups.

A September 8 performance by Cuban jazz band Irakere was canceled rather than "risk my employees' or patrons' safety based on a projected threat of protesters that are now telling us they're going to come up from Miami, West Palm Beach, and everywhere else to protest," said the owner of the theater where the musical evening was planned. In addition, news reports indicated that a proposal to host the Cuban National Ballet was also rescinded.

Cuban National Ballet tour organizer Jane Herman said she thought the troupe's Miami Beach appearances "would have sold out, maybe even double, triple, quadruple."

A poll taken in April by el Nuevo Herald showed that 90 percent of those interviewed favored having Cuban artists perform at the Grammies ceremony in Miami.

One hundred people gathered at a September 9 event to welcome Cuban poet Pablo Armando Fernández, who won Cuba's National Prize for Literature in 1996. Max Lesnic, a leader of the Alianza Martiana, and Andrés Gómez jointly opened the meeting, while four people picketed outside. Fernández was greeted with shouts of "down with the blockade."

Alianza Martiana says it favors an end to the embargo and a peaceful transition to "democracy" in Cuba.  
 
 
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