Cuban artists seek asylum

Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.

The grim reality of life in Cuba was no match for Las Vegas' bright lights, excitement ... and freedom.

All but three of the current 44 Cuban cast members of "Havana Night Club" asked for political asylum this morning at the George Federal Building on Las Vegas Boulevard South.

One has decided to return to his native country. Two others are uncertain about their choice.

Seven more performers, including the show's lead singer, have been in Germany since September, awaiting the opportunity to join the production at the Stardust. They have already asked for asylum in the United States.

Nicole "N.D." Durr -- the creator, producer and director of "Havana Night Club" -- said Sunday that the seven will arrive in Las Vegas at about 6 p.m. Tuesday and go directly to the theater to prepare for that evening's performance. The show is a revue that traces the history of dance in Cuba.

According to Durr, the 51 Cuban entertainers seeking asylum constitute the largest contingent of artists to abandon the island nation since Fidel Castro turned it into a communist dictatorship in 1959.

Several of those who will remain in this country leave behind wives and children. What will happen to them is uncertain, but Durr said efforts will be made to bring the families to the United States.

Durr, a native of Germany, said the troupe came to its difficult decision on its own.

"I did not try to persuade them," she said. "It is a decision you make that influences your whole life. I would not try to influence them."

Durr said she and her cast tried to keep politics away from the production. But, she said, the Cuban government made that impossible.

Originally, the production was to have had a six-week run beginning in July.

But because of roadblocks thrown up by the Cuban government, the cast members were not able to leave until mid-August. The production had a limited, two-week run in late August and early September. It returned for a week in October and returns again for an engagement beginning Tuesday and continuing through Jan. 11.

For awhile it looked as if the group would not be permitted to leave Cuba at all, but Durr said after she and the entire cast descended en masse upon the Cuban Foreign Ministry to protest, the government relented.

The singers, dancers and musicians were able to leave, but not as a group, only individually. And they had to leave behind much of their equipment.

"At a meeting with the minister of culture, we were told that if the artists made the decision to go, when they came back they would never have the life of an artist again," Durr said.

She said they would no longer be able to perform -- to sing, dance or play music.

"They would have to wait tables or drive a taxi," Durr said.

Faced with having to give up their art if they returned, Durr said they chose to remain in the United States.

"I think some of them might have made the decision the day they went in front of the Foreign Ministry in August and demonstrated," Durr said. "But all of them have discussed it since arriving in Las Vegas.

"In Cuba, there is no freedom. They can't express their art. They are not allowed to go somewhere and dance and perform and express their art and their culture.

"But in this country, there is freedom -- they can express themselves, they can talk. That's what I think they like most. There are no limitations."

She says the performers are at ease with their decision and have confidence in her and the future of the production, which toured the world for six years before coming to Las Vegas.

Many of the cast members have been with the show for six years, some for four -- none less than two.

"They know me and they know the show is not closing," Durr said. "They know I am a fighter."

There are no definitive offers for engagements after Jan. 11, either at the Stardust or elsewhere.

"But we have potential of staying in Las Vegas a long time," Durr said. "I believe it's going to be long term."

Jose David, 25, is the host, narrator and a dancer in "Havana Night Club."

He said a lot of thought went into his, and the rest of the troupe's, decision to seek asylum.

"We were just trying to grow as artists, but the political problems between both countries got in the middle," said David, a native of Guantanamo, Cuba. "We had to make a decision about what was more important to us.

"We knew if we stayed in Cuba, it would be harder on us."

David said once they returned to Cuba, they would never be able to get out of the country again to perform.

"In my country, I had no future as an artist," he said. "In Cuba, because of the economic situation, it is hard to have a dream to become a very good artist -- Cuba discourages dreams."

David says his dream is, "to get to the people's heart -- to show the world who we are, what we are. That's my dream."

He said the most difficult part about deciding to stay in the United States was giving up seeing his family, at least temporarily.

David is married to one of the seven performers in the show who have been in Germany for the past two months. They will be reunited when the seven arrive in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

David said he doesn't believe anything will happen to his parents and other family members sill in Cuba.

"But we don't know," he said. "We are always scared.

"After five or six years, when we become American citizens, there should be no problem for us to go to Cuba to visit our families."

Singer Lala Montes, 28, says she believes most family members of the cast will support the decision to seek asylum.

"We didn't talk to them about the decision," Montes said. "We have to protect them.

"But we feel they will support us. They are happy for us -- we have freedom."

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