When the Royal Ballet performed in Havana during the summer, the program was so popular big screen TVs had to be installed outside the theater.

When Juanes organized a 5 1/2 hour public concert, 10% of the country's population turned out.

The New York Philharmonic was about to get its history making turn with Cuba's culturally sophisticated audience when it ran into the diminishing ghost of George Bush.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) approved a license for the musicians and their technical team, an important symbolic opening it is unlikely Bush would have approved. But it told the Philharmonic that donors and Board members were not allowed to accompany them. As a result, the concerts had to be put on hold. The Philharmonic was to cover the expense of staging performances with assistance from its donor community who reasonably enough wanted to be part of an historic occasion.

OFAC said they were "tourists", a false characterization, but a distinction that mattered under regulations promulgated by George Bush in 2004--at the same time that he limited family reunions to once every three years. Did OFAC have the discretion to interpret even the Bush regulations more liberally? Certainly! The underlying law permits such travel and the support group was an inherent part of making the event happen.

Had the Obama Administration opened the door for non-tourist travel to all Americans, rather than only to Cuban Americans, there would not have been a problem. For example 300 Americans attended a jazz festival with a license under Clinton regulations.

Who was responsible for a decision that made the US look dumb all over the world? The President was ill served by members of his administration responding to intense pressure from the Cuban American old guard.

Denis McDonough of the National Security Council may have laid the groundwork, according to The Hill newspaper. Language enabling non-tourist travel had been predicted in the Washington Post, but was missing from the April announcement after McDonough met with Sen. Bob Menendez (D, NJ). Had McDonough stood up for the President's principled commitment to exchange and dialogue, or had the regulations that were finally issued a couple of weeks ago restored non-tourist categories, the Philharmonic would soon be on its way to Havana after an Asia tour that included Vietnam.

Even without the regulatory change, OFAC may have been leaning toward granting the license. Or else how explain this account from F. G. Aruca, the founder of Marazul Tours?

In our radio program from Miami yesterday, co-host Edmundo Garcia made very clear that a very good source that he could not name called him after the program Thursday and told him that the reason behind OFAC's decision to deny those licenses was what Edmundo correctly described as political blackmail from Sen. Robert (Bob) Menendez of New Jersey.

This Cuban-American senator was shocked by the success of Juanes' concert in Havana, and did not want any more of this. The Administration, the source said, is holding back (hopefully temporarily), until after the health reform legislation is approved.

I can only add that I know that the source is a very good source indeed. So, I am convinced that Bob Menendez was the trigger behind this decision, and even more importantly, is using the future of access to health services by the American people as the hostage in this political blackmail scheme.

If Menendez made such a threat, I am surprised it was taken seriously. On most issues, other than Cuba, he is a progressive Democrat. He could hardly afford to oppose the President on his signature issue of health care. The reaction would have been anger from his constituents in New Jersey and from national Democrats whom Menendez must solicit for contributions as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. (They were already alienated by Menendez extreme actions at the time of the debate over the supplemental appropriations bill, as the Post reported.)

President Obama's eloquent speech at the UN contains strong language that if applied to Cuba would mean implementation of already vetted regulations to allow educational, cultural, humanitarian, religious and sports exchanges:

"the time has come to realize that the old habits, the old arguments, are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people…They build up walls between us and the future that our people seek, and the time has come for those walls to come down."

The relatively low key speech to the UN by Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez included

"Should there be a true desire to move towards change...President Obama could allow American citizens, by means of a license, to travel to Cuba, the only country in the world they are not allowed to visit."

Bottom line, President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner can still save the Philharmonic program in Havana at the end of October by quickly directing OFAC to interpret the regulations more reasonably. Then they should finally undo all of Bush's harsh anti-travel policy by announcing regulations enabling non-tourist general licenses.

The Philharmonic in Havana can be a triumph artistically, culturally and diplomatically but the President very quickly has to choose who matters, Miami hard liners represented by Senator Menendez or the two-thirds of Americans who want travel restrictions to end.

John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development

Live-stream alert: Governor Bill Richardson will speak about his trip to Cuba at the New Democratic Network in Washington on Friday, October 9th. Watch it on line at 12:15 p.m. at http://ndn.org/livecast. Richardson called strongly for the President to open up non-tourist travel and supports Congress ending all restrictions.