American fans want to see Norah Jones in Havana. Their money will go to the Cuban military

Americans hoping to attend two private concerts in Havana next year by Grammy-award singer-songwriter Norah Jones must pay up to $8,000 for the exclusive trip marketed as “a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

What they’re likely not going to be told: Some of that money will flow directly to a Cuban military company under U.S. sanctions.

The trip, limited to a hundred people and sold by New York-based company Dreamcatcher Events LLC, includes four nights at the Hotel Grand Aston in Havana, which is owned by Gaviota, the largest military-owned hotel chain in Cuba which currently controls more than 100 hotels around the country. The Indonesian group Archipelago International manages the hotel in the Cuban capital and several others around the island under the Aston brand.

Gaviota is blacklisted by the U.S. State Department, which keeps a list of entities Americans cannot do business with because they are linked with Cuba’s security and military forces. Many of them are hotels. But the Hotel Grand Aston, inaugurated in March last year, is not explicitly named in the list, which was last updated on Jan. 8, 2021, a State Department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson did not explain why the hotel was not included.

According to the rules set up by the State Department when it first created the list in 2017, since the Hotel Grand Aston is omitted, Americans will not be violating sanctions by booking a stay, even though its owner, Gaviota, does appear on the list.

Americans booking the trip would not know they would be staying at a military-owned hotel by looking at the trip’s website, which does not include such information. The website marketing the trip describes the Grand Aston as “a luxurious gem nestled in the heart of Havana, Cuba, on the Malecon, overlooking the Caribbean, offering an exquisite blend of modern comfort and Cuban charm.”

Dreamcatcher Events LLC did not respond to an email and voicemail seeking comment.

The announcement that Jones would travel to Havana stirred controversy among activists, Cuban independent journalists and exiles, who quickly noted that a sanctioned company owns the Grand Aston but also argued that the trip is tourism in disguise.

Americans traveling to Cuba cannot engage in tourism, which is prohibited by law. Still, they can travel legally if the trip qualifies under 12 authorized categories, including family visits and educational activities.

The Obama administration loosened the rules to allow Americans to travel on their own or in groups if the trip would promote contact between Cubans and Americans, a decision that the Trump administration later reversed because it considered such “people-to-people” travel akin to engaging in tourism.

In June 2022, the Biden administration lifted some restrictions again to authorize Americans to travel in a group to engage in “people-to-people educational travel.” The U.S. Treasury Department states such trips “must be for the purpose of engaging, while in Cuba, in a full-time schedule of activities that are intended to enhance contact with the Cuban people, support civil society in Cuba, or promote the Cuban people’s independence from Cuban authorities; and will result in meaningful interactions with individuals in Cuba.”

The website for Norah Jones’ Vive en La Habana — a mistranslation of Live in Havana — states that Dreamcatcher Events LLC’s travel itinerary is “fully compliant” with applicable U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations.

In addition to the two concerts, the itinerary includes a “soundcheck Q&A session with Norah exclusively with our group” at Teatro Martí, a historic theater in Old Havana recently renovated, and attending a masterclass by Jones for Cuban music students at the University of the Arts in Havana.

The rest of the itinerary includes:

▪ Two concerts by Cuban musicians, one at the Fábrica de Arte, “Havana’s renowned nightclub and cultural center,” and the other at Casa de La Música, “the home of salsa music in Havana.”

▪ Dinners at “Havana’s finest restaurants, including La Guarida, Cocinero, Atelier, and Il Carbon” — all privately owned.

▪ “A classic American convertible excursion of Havana and a walking excursion of Old Havana.”

For an extra fee, the company also offers additional activities, including salsa dancing lessons, Cuban cooking lessons, visiting a street vendors market and an art museum, and a photo tour to capture “the unique blend of decay and beauty that defines Havana.”

A Treasury Department spokesperson said the agency cannot comment or provide assessments of sanctions compliance or violations.

But the lack of clear guidance is at the heart of controversies about what is considered legal travel to Cuba or tourism. Last year, a Miami judge ruled that U.S.-based cruise lines that took American travelers to Cuba between 2016 and 2019 engaged in “prohibited tourism” because they offered excursions to beaches, nightclubs and sightseeing tours. (The cruise lines have been ordered to pay over $400 million in damages for using a dock at the port of Havana, previously confiscated by Fidel Castro without compensation to the company with the exploitation rights. The lawsuit is currently on appeal.)

Human rights activists and independent journalists flooded Jones’s Facebook official page with criticism, noting the Cuban government jails dissidents and is currently holding around a thousand political prisoners. Some of the critics said that her trip to the island felt like an endorsement of Cuban authorities at a time of heightened repression.

“Cuba is an authoritarian regime, a dictatorship,” wrote Cuban independent journalist Monica Baró, who had to leave the island in 2021 because of harassment by state security agents. “You will be legitimizing with your art and your name a regime that violates human rights.”

Jones’s manager, John Silva, did not respond to a request for comment.

Jones said in a press release announcing the concerts in Havana that she was “excited to be coming to Cuba for the very first time as part of a cultural and educational exchange. I’m looking forward to learning more about the country’s rich musical heritage and sharing my music through two shows with my band at the historic Teatro Martí.”