Young Mexican go players are visiting Cuba this week in a historic first exchange between the two countries. Next month the Cuban go community will host a group of go players from Japan, the seventh such visit.
The first Cuba - Mexico School Go Exchange, which includes individual and team competitions, is taking place at the Cuban Go Academy from April 14-18. The Mexican children are a part of an educational go project at the “Center of Educational and Artistic Investigations', a primary school begun in 2008. The Go project is led by Siddhartha Avila, who has brought Mexican groups to the last two US Go Congresses. The Cuban children attend a local primary school in Havana and are also pupils in the Cuban Go Academy where they study twice a week.
The visit by the Japanese delegation of adult go players (set for May 14-22) will celebrate 400 years of relations between Cuba and Japan. The Samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga visited Havana in 1614. The May event will take place both in the province of Santiago de Cuba and in Havana, and the Japanese teachers will bring a donation of go equipment to the Go School in Santiago de Cuba to support the community in light of the recent hurricane damage.