US-Cuba thaw in full swing in arts world

HAVANA: The United States and Cuba governments have taken the first, tentative steps toward ending 50 years of hostilities, but the thawing of relations is already in full swing in the arts world.

After being largely absent in recent years, US gallery owners, museum directors, curators and collectors are returning to the island to view and buy the work of Cuban artists.

Hundreds showed up for the just-ended Havana Biennial arts festival that was a regular stop for art buyers before a Bush administration travel crackdown earlier this decade. Their presence reflected both newly relaxed US policy toward Cuba under President Barack Obama and a US hunger for Cuban art.