About 15,000 tickets were already sold when the Higher Education Minister Luis Acuna announced that Alejandro Sanz would not be allowed to perform at the Poliedro stadium on 1 November 2007.

Criticising the president
The last time Sanz was performing in Venezuela was in 2004, and during this visit he was interviewed in the radio and asked questions about Chavez, the president of Venezuela. Sanz said: “I don’t like your president. I don’t like those from other places either.”

This was allegedly the statement that three years later would cause the Venezuelan government to block his concert. In July 2007, Chavez warned foreigners to publicly criticise him or his government. Doing this might result in being expelled from Venezuela.

Private scenes
According to Fox News and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the problem with the Poliedro stadium is that it is administrated by the state. However, CBC reports that Sanz will be allowed to perform at a privately owned concert hall in Venezuela.