“It was incredible I never thought I would see it in my lifetime”, said Tony Alvarez.
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Bipartisan bills that lift the embargo have gone nowhere, thus far.
If nothing else, President Obama’s state visit to Cuba has served to put on display the profound cynicism of its aging leaders and the cocoon of unreality and fear-induced obedience that has surrounded them for more than half a century.
As Obama began his trip, he said that with less than a year left in office, “the time is right”. “I told President Castro that we are moving forward and not looking backwards”. In only his third formal meeting with Mr Castro, Mr Obama was greeted by a military band that played the Cuban and the U.S. national anthems.
At a press conference with Cuban President Raul Castro, Obama argued that empowering the Cuban people economically will lead to more momentum to end the congressionally imposed embargo of the island nation.
Obama sought to reassure Cubans wary of the return of US engagement.
Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro outlined starkly different visions of their countries.
Castro says he recognizes that Obama wants the blockade lifted entirely, but that Congress has refused to go along.
Asked about the potential for USA companies to lose out to other countries in the Cuban market, Obama told ABC: “There’s no doubt that we still have some work to do, and part of that is bringing an end to the embargo that is now in place”.
The meeting provides Obama and his aides another reality check on their mission to extract reforms from Castro.
Outside the palace in Havana’s sprawling Revolution Square, Obama posed for a photo in front of a giant sculpture of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, creating an indelible image sure to reverberate in Cuba and beyond.
Barack Obama’s trip to Havana has been a checklist of firsts, and day two racked up another historic moment.
On Tuesday, he was to give an address carried live on Cuban state television, and then attend a baseball game between the national team and Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, before flying out.
Grant says it was extraordinary to watch Castro answer questions from the foreign press, because it so obviously made him uncomfortable.
Obama also faced criticism from Cuban-American Ted Cruz, a Texas senator and another Republican presidential candidate who said he wouldn’t visit under the current political conditions.
Ahead of his meeting with Castro, Obama announced a deal that Google (GOOGL.O) has reached with the island.
Indeed, the US and Cuba are working more closely together now than at any time since relations took a nose dive amid Cuba’s 1959 revolution.
All as local Cubans continue to take in the meaning of today. One stunned woman held a hand to her mouth.
Obama is in the midst of a two-day trip to the island nation that comes after the two countries reestablished a bilateral relationship in December 2014 following more than five decades of severed relations.
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Further, he said that Cubans “oppose political manipulation and double standards in the approach to civil rights”, a comment which the Guardian said “could easily be read as a criticism of USA actions in Guantánamo versus its rhetoric on human rights”.
