In the group a seven-year-old girl, the youngest, traveled with her parents from Chicago. They, as they told Prensa Latina, were “eager to see other Cubans, to get closer, to relate”.

That is why during the evening they talked about national symbols, Cuban music that has served as a school and is listened to in so many places, the rhythms and the character of Cubans.

Welcoming the guests to the diplomatic headquarters, the head of the Cuban Mission, Lianys Torres, recalled the negative effects resulting from the country’s inclusion in the list of sponsors of terrorism, which sets more hurdles in the midst of the economic, commercial and financial blockade the US government has enforced for over six decades.

But, above all, Torres conveyed in her words confidence and optimism in the future, and that the hard times will pass.

She also reiterated that one of Embassy’s prime objectives is “to strengthen our relationship with Cubans living abroad and their descendants”.

Paul Cassens, a American musician and lover of Cuban rhythms, enlivened the evening in which he said he would be happy, like many here, to see relations between the U.S. and Cuba improve.

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