Homestead Speedway must pay more than $500K for cancelling Cuban music concert

By Juan Carlos Chávez

From El Nuevo Herald

MIAMI – A fierce legal dispute that began two years ago in a Miami-Dade courtroom dealing with a Cuban music festival ended on Monday evening with a verdict in favor of the festival organizers.

The festival was to be held on April 9, 2011, with more than twenty artists from within and outside Cuba. The center of the dispute arose when the directors of Homestead-Miami Speedway decided to cancel the event. They argued that the organizers were planning an activity of Cuban music and not Mexican.

The decision to set aside the festival was taken after the signing of a contract for renting of the speedway.

Organizing a festival with Cuban artists backed by the government of the Castro brothers led to exile protests in South Florida. Miami-Dade Commissioner and former Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell joined the wave of criticism.

The trial was aired in a court presided by Judge Sarah Zabel. A jury of four men and three women decided on the case, which included a claim for damages brought forth by the company MIA Resort, Luis Arias, and music promoter Hugo Cancio, of Fuego Entertainment.

The judgment requires the Speedway’s directors to pay a financial compensation of $567,000. The jury concluded that the allegations submitted by the managers to support its decision to ignore the lease and reject the plans of entrepreneurs were insufficient.

To read the full Nuevo Herald report (in Spanish) click here.

Translation by Progreso Weekly