Obama said that while the United States still has concerns about human rights in Cuba, it has already made significant progress in renewing relationships.
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In December 2014, Obama announced the United States would normalize relations with Cuba.
Meanwhile, Cuba hailed Obama’s planned visit to the island as a step towards mending bilateral relations and expressed willingness to discuss human rights with the USA president. “America will always stand for human rights around the world”, Obama wrote, as he announced the history-making visit on Twitter.
“The optic will be quite different from the get-go here”, Obama’s deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement that this Cuban trip is another demonstration of the presidents commitment to chart a new course for U.S.-Cuban relations and connect U.S. and Cuban citizens through expanded travel, commerce, and access to information..
President Eisenhower closed the U.S. Embassy in Havana on January 3, 1961, officially severing diplomatic ties. The two sides reached an aviation agreement that will allow for regularly-scheduled commercial flights and USA cellular companies are providing roaming service on the island.
Cuban President Raúl Castro shakes hands with President Barack Obama during a meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas at the Atlapa Convention Center April 11, 2015, in Panama City.
Last spring, the President’s hand shake with Raul Castro made some Cuban Americans uneasy.
The U.S. and Cuba, located about 90 miles from each other, cut ties following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, which toppled authoritarian leader Fulgencio Batista.
Rhodes noted the ultimate aim is to persuade Congress to lift the trade embargo – an unlikely possibility in the near term. Airbnb, an online home-rental site, said USA rentals of homes in Cuba are booming. Marco Rubio of Florida criticized reports of Obama’s plans, calling Castro’s government “an anti-American communist dictatorship”. There is only one remaining obstacle and that is the lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba. Asked at a CNN town hall event in SC whether he would visit Cuba, Rubio replied: “Not if it’s not a free Cuba”.
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The March trip will mark the first time in almost 70 years that a US president has set foot on the island. The countries have also signed a deal on commercial flights.
