"Cuba’s Art Scene is Flourishing" Cuba has fascinated Americans for decades, but the socialist island has been off limits for 50 years because of a U.S. trade embargo. Things are changing, though. On Monday, the Cuban government last week ended a pair of long-reviled travel restrictions, making it easier for Cubans to leave their country. And in 2011, President Obama authorized tightly regulated people-to-people cultural tours, allowing more Americans to travel to Cuba.