In a joint news conference Monday with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro in Havana, Obama said “full flowering” of the relationship would happen only with progress on the issue of rights, Reuters reported. “They want freedom, and they want to shape their country the way they want to shape it – not the way anybody in Congress wants to shape it. I think this is hopefully the beginning of a new era not only for the Cuban people, but also for the American people”.
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Sanchez said a veil was lifted Sunday when Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit the island nation in almost 90 years.
Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro outlined starkly different visions of their countries.
But when an American reporter asked about political prisoners in Cuba, he pushed back aggressively, saying if the journalist could offer names of anyone improperly imprisoned, “they will be released before tonight ends”. Castro said there are no political prisoners in the country and he would release them today if there were.
Florida Republicans blasted Obama’s trip as appeasement – “one of the most disgraceful trips ever taken by a US president anywhere in the world”, said Sen. “What political prisoners?” said Castro.
Later, Castro delivered a litany of areas where he said the U.S. was failing, from inadequate health care to lower pay for women.
They stomped on and steam rolled pictures of President Obama.
Barack Obama and his wife Michelle leaves after attending a state dinner hosted by Raul Castro at the Palacio de la Revolucion in Havana March 21, 2016. Instead of participating in Castro’s salute, he simply let the Cuban leader grab his arm while he dangled it limply above his head. He added later, “It’s not correct to ask me about political prisoners in general”.
President Obama said the trade embargo did not serve the interests of either country. The White House has been criticized by conservative Cubans for a move they see as legitimizing a brutal Castro regime.
The president also plans to address the Cuban people directly in a historic speech Tuesday and will take in an exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National team. Sanchez believes the president’s visit is one more step toward diplomacy since the US opened an Embassy in Cuba in August 2015.
“What I’m begging the president to do is give a voice to the voiceless”, Miyares said.
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The US leader also said, without making any promises on timing, that “the embargo is going to end”.
