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It was the year’s most anticipated dancehall concert but “Mavado live in Placencia” on Holy Saturday night was cancelled. The reason according to the promoter is that on Wednesday the United States cancelled Mavado’s visa – along with the visas of other big name Jamaican artists such as Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, and Jah Cure. Internet reports confirm the visa cancellations which we take to mean Mavado and the other artists couldn’t travel to the United States. But promoter DJ Ritchie Galvez claims that Mavado and the other artists were also barred from leaving Jamaica. He gave us his explanation.

Keith Swift,
“Why didn’t he go on a route outside the United States?”

DJ Ritchie Galvez, Promoter
“Yeah they have flights through Cancun and Cuba and Panama. That happened Wednesday evening and we looked for those flights Wednesday night and there was no available flights. By Thursday afternoon we got a private jet to fly in from Jamaica directly to Belize. A memo was put out that Movado was wanted for interrogating so he couldn’t go to the airport none at all, they wouldn’t have allowed him to fly out. We found that out on Friday morning. So there was no way Movado or any of the artists could leave Jamaica at that time. That is what happened.

I want to apologize on behalf of Cozy Corner and all my sponsors, the promoters. It is not our fault, it is not Movado’s fault, it just happened last minute. The interesting thing about it is that there were rumours that Mavado was not coming but this had nothing to do with the rumours because we killed the rumour on Wednesday when Mavado himself sent the video drop because it is strange for an artist doing a show in Belize to send a video drop. He sent one saying that don’t listen to rumours. That killed it and was official. He did that Wednesday and by Wednesday afternoon his visa was revoked.

I just want to clear the name and let the public know that yes we failed you guys, it is not our fault, it is life, it is realistic and we have to move on. He will come so there will be a show and this time I will make him come from at least Monday so people know he is here.”

We note that Ritchie’s explanation that they would not be able to leave the country under any circumstances would indeed be big news but we haven’t seen it reported anywhere. Sizzla’s visa for example has been cancelled since 1998 and he freely tours the world including Belize. DJ Ritchie advises everyone who bought a Mavado ticket to get a refund at the ticket agent where you bought it. If you have problems getting a refund – you can contact DJ Ritchie directly at 620-6890.