“There’s no shortage of opportunities for Americans to build that type of meaningful schedule or people-to-people engagement while they go to Cuba”, said Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes.
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With his pending historic visit to Cuba, President Barack Obama met with a group of Cuban-Americans.
Sanford has traveled to Cuba twice on trips organized by private organizations and nonprofits.
Traveling with first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia, the president on Monday will start his trip with a walking tour of Old Havana, where they’ll see historic buildings that make up the city’s core.
“That basically, nearly puts a fork in the whole travel ban, and that is a good thing”, he said.
“I think President Obama’s visit is very timely”.
The Obama administration previously allowed independent travel for specific purposes, such as supporting religious organizations or participating in sports events. At a church there, Obama will meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who helped facilitate the months-long, secret negotiations that led to the USA and Cuba agreeing to re-establish diplomatic relations.
A man who spent five years in a Cuban prison spoke out Tuesday on recent changes and President Obama easing restrictions on the island nation.
“We are making it easier for the Cuban economy to open up to the global economy”, Rhodes said.
The cold war embargo between the USA and Cuba had been in place since 1962 and the Cuban missile crisis during the presidency of John F Kennedy. Durbin is an original co-sponsor of legislation to lift bans on U.S.travel, and agricultural and telecommunications exports to Cuba.
An image of revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara hangs on a wall across the doorway from a Stars and Stripes tacked to a wall, in the home of actor Armando Ricart, a former boxer and carpenter, in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, M…
U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach, has called the trip an “embarrassing visit” that rewards the Castro dictatorship and weakens America.
But most attention has been focused on Cuba, where Obama will be the first USA president to set foot in more than 80 years.
Congressional Republicans were quick to criticize Mr. Obama’s announcement as a concession to the Castro regime.
Cuban-Americans who oppose the rapprochement say Obama has flagrantly ignored the sanctions and rewarded a government with a troubling human rights record.
“Well, we’re journalism students, so we have find a way to get stories from hard surroundings and stuff”, Pena said.
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Information for this article was contributed by Michael Weissenstein and Josh Lederman of The Associated Press; by Scott Lanman, Margaret Talev and Andrew Mayeda of Bloomberg News; and by Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post.
