Obama to embark on historic Cuba visit in March

Since the American embassy was reopened, several US officials, such as the Secretary of State John Kerry, have visited the island.

Obama, now in his final year in office, will meet with Cuban president Raul Castro, entrepreneurs, and “Cubans from different walks of life” during the March 21 and 22 visit, the White House said on Thursday. While in the country, Obama plans to meet with groups advocating for change in Cuba, a condition the president had laid out publicly for such a trip.

Obama will be the first president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Business and travel restrictions on Cuba have also been eased, and the administration wants Congress to lift the trade embargo on Cuba.

Cuban President Raúl Castro shakes hands with President Barack Obama during a meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas at the Atlapa Convention Center April 11, 2015, in Panama City.

Obama made the trip official in a series of tweets Thursday morning, touting “significant progress” in resuming diplomatic relations with the communist nation in the 14 months since he announced the breakthrough. “President Obama has raised these issues in his discussions with President Castro, and will continue to do so”, Rhodes said. Opponents argue that repealing those sanctions would reward a government still engaging in human rights abuses and stifling democratic aspirations.

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who was born in Cuba, calls the visit “absolutely shameful”.

At the same event, Cruz also criticized Obama’s move, saying he would not go to Cuba “as long as the Castros are in power”. Asked at a CNN town hall event in SC whether he would visit Cuba, Rubio replied: “Not if it’s not a free Cuba”. Further, Cruz believes Obama would visit Cuba to “essentially act as an apologist”. “And we need to have a president that stands up to our enemies”.

William Gallo reported on this story for VOANews.com. “More Americans are travelling to Cuba than at any time in the last 50 years”, he added. Currently, there are about one-fifth as many flights operating between the two countries – all charters.

For the White House, next month’s visit will be the culmination of one of the president’s most impressive foreign policy accomplishments, overhauling a failed policy that administrations from both parties were content to leave in place indefinitely.