-Removed Cuba from the US list of countries with inadequate port security, making it easier for ships to travel between the two countries.
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At the time, presidential hopefuls Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush, who live in the heavily Cuban-American Miami area, denounced the plan to renew relations with Cuba.
“But I can tell you the president is going to move forward in those meetings and have a conversation about human rights…The list of people invited to meet with the president in Cuba is non-negotiable”, Earnest said.
Of course, Latin America was hardly at the top of President Obama’s foreign policy priorities when he came to office, given challenges facing the global economy and the growth of extremism across the Islamic world, among other issues requiring his immediate attention. Aside from that single step, he offered no indication that Cuba would make further economic changes sought by the US, and he dismissed Obama’s sweeping steps to ease the USA embargo on Cuba as essentially meaningless.
Aurelio Gonzá lez, member of an opposition group associated with the Ladies in White, was adamant that Washington’s new stance toward Cuba has done nothing to improve rights.
“It is very hard to imagine Fidel Castro welcoming a USA president to Cuba, but it’s important to underline that Raul and Fidel work together and that Fidel recognizes the need for this rapprochement with the United States”, Michael Shifter, head of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, said.
The announcements made on December 17 (St. Lazarus Day) weren’t all talk, as many believed, and the changes continued to happen. This historic trip will mark the first visit to Cuba by a sitting USA president since 1928.
More than 100 detainees remain at the facility despite President Barack Obama’s efforts to close it. Congress has placed restrictions on the transfer of detainees, and has prevented the administration from sending them to the US for trial.
Despite positive-sounding noises from Mr Obama, he has failed to persuade Congress to lift longstanding punitive sanctions against Cuba. He’ll deliver a televised address to the Cuban people.
Moulton is one of 60 co-sponsors of a bill aimed at ending restrictions on travel by American citizens and legal residents to Cuba.
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One of the most enthusiastically-embraced moments will be the baseball match on Tuesday evening, pitching the Tampa Bay Rays against the Cuban national squad. Last month, the USA and Cuba agreed to authorize daily commercial flights between the two countries, and the government is now considering applications from American airlines to operate these flights.
