WASHINGTON Reuters A Cuban musician barred from the United States by the Bush performed in Washington on Thursday and had lunch with a White House official in a new sign of a thaw in USCuba relations Carlos Varela whose songs capture the of young Cubans was given a threeweek visa by the Obama which has sought to improve ties with Cubas communist government Varela met the White House official for lunch at a Washington restaurant according to the organizers of his trip the Center for Democracy in the Americas a liberal group that seeks the lifting of the US travel ban and trade embargo The group did not identify the official Varela also met with two members of Congress Democratic Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and John Tierney of We dont have 80 television channels in Cuba so we have nothing else to do but sing to each other about what we do Varela 46 said at a church where he gavea talk on Cubas musical culture and performed several songs He said Cubas radio stations did not play his more critical songs about the and dreams of his generation He also criticized the travel between the two countries that began before he was born Varela who last visited the United States in 1998 hopes to bring his band on a US tour next year Next week at Jackson Brownes studio in Los Angeles he plans to mix his eighth album which he recorded at his home in Havana and produced in Canada In 2004 the Bush severely restricted cultural exchanges with Cuba and denied Varela a visa to perform in Miami even though 1700 tickets had been sold Relations between Washington and Havana soured after Fidel Castro came to power in a 1959 revolution and aligned Cuba with the Soviet bloc President Barack Obama has lifted travel for and restarted migration talks with Havana but he says theembargo handlu 47yearold pozostanie w miejscu aż do reformy postrzegane są w Cubas oneparty Państwa przez Anthony Boadle edycji przez Peter Cooney