Washington, May 3 (RHC)–- An article in the main newspaper of the U.S. capital, The Washington Post, takes note this Thursday of a major Cuban cultural delegation scheduled for performances in that city in late May and early June. 

The Washington Post writes that since President Trump tightened travel restrictions to Cuba in 2017, many Americans are being kept from the island’s “vibrant arts scene.” But now you can “dust off your guayabera shirts and salsa-dancing shoes, because the Kennedy Center is offering a little piece of Cuba in the capital,” announces the paper.

The two-week festival Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World, which kicks off Tuesday, is bringing 242 artists from Cuba to D.C., where they will join forces with 170 Cuban-Americans to showcase the country’s rich culture of performing and visual arts.

At the heart of the festival are more than 50 performances, including jazz, classical music, popular music, modern dance, ballet and flamenco. Film screenings and visual art installations round out the program.

“This will be the first time this many Cuban artists have gathered for a festival in America,” festival curator Alicia Adams told the Post. “It is unprecedented.  Cuba punches way above its weight because the government has invested in arts and culture for all of these years” Adams said.

For the Cuban artists getting U.S. visas was tough, because in addition to reinstating some travel restrictions, the Trump administration has severely reduced staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, noted Adams.  As a result, the Kennedy Center had to fly the Cuban artists to Mexico so that the US Embassy there could process their visas.