Nevertheless, Membiela said it’s still pretty tough for a USA company to set up shop in Cuba.
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Obama’s trip comes in the midst of a heated USA presidential election in which his willingness to talk to America’s foes – not only Cuba, but also Iran – has been a focus.
Margaret Pullés Machado is first generation Cuban-American and President & CEO of VamosGlobal which helps advance the historic opening to Cuba through cross-cultural missions and exchanges between Americans and Cubans.
Where Cubans once resented American baseball because so numerous nation’s best players defected to play here, now, Major League Baseball is hoping to establish official ties with Cuban development teams and new rules proposed by the administration would allow Cuban ballplayers to sign contracts without renouncing their Cuban citizenship.
Obama and his family visit Cuba from Sunday through Tuesday, the first trip by a sitting USA president since the revolution.
“We very much want to make the process of normalization irreversible”, said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser. White House officials have downplayed concerns about such antagonistic comments, including a scathing editorial that appeared this month in a state-run newspaper laying out Cuba’s list of grievances against the U.S. “Moreover, his visit could open the door for future visits from worldwide human rights organizations and the lifting of a needless economic embargo that bars Cubans from receiving basic necessities”, said Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, Amnesty global USA’s advocacy director for the Americas.
Maduro was in Havana to participate in the Cuba-Venezuela High Level Joint Commission meeting to map out a cooperation arrangement for 2016 and a plan to deal with the present epidemics of Zika, dengue and Chikungunya affecting the region.
Brigade 2506 Veterans Chairman Felix Rodriguez believes Obama’s visit will do absolutely nothing to benefit the Cuban people.
Obama will meet dissidents at the U.S. embassy.
President Obama wrote a letter to Ileana Yarza, a 76-year-old letter write in Cuba.
Count the number of candy-colored classic cars at a Havana stoplight, and you’ll find just as many expectations for the imminent visit of U.S. President Barack Obama.
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The breakthrough came when the USA took Cuba off its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Given the growing foreign interest, Cuban leaders are pleased but proceeding cautiously as anxious American business representatives flood Havana hotels in search of a piece of Cuba’s commercial potential.
