Washington's Corcoran Museum postponed a Cuban cultural program after anti-Castro activists and the Treasury Department -- but few others -- showed interest.

BY PABLO BACHELET AND JUAN TAMAYO

WASHINGTON - The Corcoran Museum of Art has postponed a program on Cuban culture it was cosponsoring with Havana's diplomatic mission here after the $70-$90 tickets sparked little interest -- except from anti-Castro activists and the Treasury Department.

Corcoran spokeswoman Margaret Bergen said only 41 people had signed up for the program, which was to have started Tuesday, apparently because the date was too close to the busy Thanksgiving weekend.

''The timing is very bad and the response has been low,'' Bergen said, adding that complaints from anti-Castro activists played no role in the decision.

No new date has been set for the events, Bergen said.

The program was scheduled to include a movie on Cuban culture, a meeting with Dagoberto Rodríguez, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, and a reception at the diplomatic mission's ballroom.

But the price of admission -- $70 for Corcoran members and $90 for the general public -- drew queries from the Treasury branch that enforces U.S. sanctions on Cuba, the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Virtually all U.S. transfers of money to Cuban government coffers require special licenses.

State Department officials also noted that the Cuban government has regularly barred the U.S. Interests Section in Havana from hosting similar cultural events, and recently denied visas to a blue grass music group that the diplomatic mission wanted to take to Cuba.

Washington and Havana do not have full diplomatic relations, so instead of embassies they maintain interests sections in each others' capitals. Both are housed in their one-time embassies.

Frank Calzón, executive director of the Washington-based Center for a Free Cuba, said he wrote a letter to the Corcoran on Monday, not trying to block the show but urging it also to listen to ``the voices of Cuban political prisoners and their families who will be extremely saddened when they hear about your forthcoming function.''

Calzón's letter argued that artistic freedoms are severely restricted in Cuba and that the government jailed 75 dissidents last year.