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Digital Journal LogoA controversy over the Obama White House treatment of Cuban jazz musician Paquito D’Rivera has been ignored by the Voice of America (VOA) whose late music broadcaster Willis Conover had played a major role in promoting jazz and artistic freedom, former VOA acting associate director Ted Lipien wrote in an op-ed in Digital Journal.

Jazz musicians Paquito D'Rivera and Valery Ponomarev play at a concert in tribute to Voice of America’s Willis Conover September 17, 2007 at VOA headquarters. The multi-ethnic quintet included D’Rivera, who was born in Cuba, Ponomarev (Russia), and musicians from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Cuba. Conover hosted a popular jazz program on VOA from 1955-1996. (VOA photo)
Jazz musicians Paquito D’Rivera and Valery Ponomarev play at a concert in tribute to Voice of America’s Willis Conover September 17, 2007 at VOA headquarters. The multi-ethnic quintet included D’Rivera, who was born in Cuba, Ponomarev (Russia), and musicians from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Cuba. Conover hosted a popular jazz program on VOA from 1955-1996. (VOA photo)

Paquito D’Rivera and Valery Ponomarev played at a concert in tribute to Voice of America’s Willis Conover on September 17, 2007 at VOA headquarters. It appears that no passionate Voice of America journalist among some of its major services had the guts to report when D’Rivera was invited, dis-invited, and re-invited by the White House to play at the International Jazz Day on April 30. He was re-invited after his powerful letter to President Obama in defense of human rights and American values was made public.

READ MORE: Op-Ed: Cuba jazz musician snubbed by White House and Voice of America, Ted Lipien, Digital Journal, April 24, 2016

 
Disclosure: Ted Lipien is a co-founder and supporter of BBG Watch.
Photo credit: R. Andrew Lepley
 
 
 

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