Last week the U.S.-Cuba Cultural Exchange released a letter from over 900 U.S. artists, arts presenters, arts educators and cultural scholars in support of cultural relations with Cuba and “travel for all.”
The letter calls for three changes:
- open a respectful dialogue with the government and people of Cuba in accord with established protocols supported by the community of nations;
- end the travel ban that prevents U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba, and allow for Cuban artists and scholars to visit the United States, thus eliminating the censorship of art and ideas, and;
- initiate, by working with the U.S. Congress, a process that can result in the development of normal, respectful bilateral relations between our countries.
Click here for the full letter
The letter continues to collect signatures and is receiving a considerable amount of attention with some of its high profile signatories, including Harry Belafonte, Santana, Herbie Hancock and Bonnie Raitt, to name but a few. Democracy Now featured the letter in an interview with Grammy-winning musician Arturo O’Farrill; former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, Vicki Huddleston; and Michael Ratner, human rights attorney and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Check it out here.
Kudos to the U.S.-Cuba Cultural Exchange for the letter and for the Democracy Now interview. Check out the website here.
