After being warmly welcomed elsewhere during a tour of the United States, Los Van Van got the cold shoulder in the heart of the Cuban exile community.
Demonstrators carried signs reading "Castro: 40 years of dictatorship and 40 years of slavery" and "Van: Get out of Miami."
"We have nothing against the music they play," said protester Luis Eseandal. "This is about the Cuban government and Fidel Castro. That's why we're here."
A disturbance broke out between police and protesters that lasted just a few minutes when about a dozen demonstrators hopped the steel barricades and tried to run to the entrance of the arena.
Police used pepper spray to control the rowdy group, and a handful of protesters were led away in handcuffs as supporters shouted their outrage.
A reporter was treated for a minor cut after being hit in the head by a rock.
Following weeks of controversy in Miami over the upcoming performance, Los Van Van began their concert of Afro-Cuban dance music at the Miami Arena in downtown, while the huge protest was staged outside.
"I'm here because I like the music," said one ticketholder to the concert, Adriana Lopez, a native of Colombia who lives in Miami. "It's an art and an expression from the soul.
"I don't see why we have to get into politics over this," Lopez lamented.
Concert goers were shielded by two rows of barricades as dozens of police officers kept watch over a crowd so crammed together they resembled revelers on a parade route.
Some members of Miami's Cuban-American community denounced Los Van Van as emissaries of Cuba's communist President Fidel Castro, and the appearance got canceled, only to be rescheduled.
"They're not telling the truth," said protester Mirta Oliva-Rios. "This group is a representative of Fidel Castro. We don't need that here."
Miami Mayor Joe Carollo and city Commissioner Tomas Regalado, both Cuban-born, last month vented their objections to the concert on Spanish-language radio, and the dispute generated thousands of calls to city hall.
The American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue after the show's cancellation at another city-owned venue.
Veterans of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba showed an anti-Castro film Saturday night a few blocks away, at the James L. Knight Center, the original site of the Los Van Van show, then made their way to the Arena to protest.
The Cuban exile group Democracy Movement issued a statement Saturday objecting to the "insincerity" of allowing Los Van Van to perform.
"Both sides pretend for us to accept on its face value their claim that they are leading a 'people to people contact' policy when in reality, Castro's Van come to Miami to play while our Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz or Willie Chirino cannot go to Cuba to do the same," the statement said.
Juan Formell, who founded Los Van Van 30 years ago, rejected the label applied by opponents who call the group the "official" band of the Cuban government.
"We don't do politics. We make music," Formell said.
Cultural exchange exemptions under the U.S. trade embargo allow Cuban bands to perform in the United States if they don't profit from the concerts.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press