Cuba cultural visits appear on the rise

Cuba cultural visits appear on the rise
Published: Oct. 5, 2009 at 12:58 PM

MIAMI, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Anecdotal evidence suggests more U.S. residents
and Cubans are visiting each other's countries in cultural and
educational travel excursions, observers say.

U.S. State Department statistics indicate that 16,217 Cubans visited the
United States from October 2008 to August 2009, up from 10,661 during
the same period in 2007-08, while more American academics, musicians and
church groups are traveling to the communist island nation, The Miami
Herald reported Monday.

The numbers are up under the administration of U.S. President Barack
Obama, whose State Department has relaxed strict Bush-era
interpretations of laws affecting U.S.-Cuba travel, the newspaper said.

"Even though the administration hasn't yet published changes allowing
more cultural and educational exchanges to and from Cuba, anecdotal
evidence suggests that such loosening has already taken place," U.S.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a critic of Obama's Cuba policy, told
the Herald. "We see ads informing college students and artistic groups
of planned excursions to the island."

The cultural exchanges were stopped under the Bush administration after
complaints that they were merely excuses for tourists to visit Cuba's
beaches.

Cuba cultural visits appear on the rise - UPI.com (5 October 2009)
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/10/05/Cuba-cultural-visits-appear-on-the-rise/UPI-74371254761918/