Obama arrives in Cuba for what he calls a 'historic visit'

[webfact]

Obama arrives in Cuba for what he calls a 'historic visit'
By JULIE PACE and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

HAVANA (AP) — Stepping into history, President Barack Obama opened an extraordinary visit to Cuba on Sunday, eager to push decades of acrimony deeper into the past and forge irreversible ties with America's former adversary. "It is wonderful to be here," he said.

Obama's whirlwind trip is a crowning moment in his and Cuban President Raul Castro's ambitious effort to restore normal relations between their countries. While deep differences persist, the economic and political relationship has changed rapidly in the 15 months since the leaders vowed a new beginning.

Wielding an umbrella on a rainy Havana afternoon, the president stepped off of Air Force One and was greeted by top Cuban officials — but not Raul Castro. The Cuban leader frequently greets major world figures upon their arrival at Jose Marti International Airport, but was absent on the tarmac. Instead, he planned to greet Obama on Monday at Palace of the Revolution.

Obama's first stop was a Havana hotel, where he greeted U.S. Embassy staff and their families and noted the momentous nature of his visit — the first by a sitting U.S. president since 1928, when Calvin Coolidge arrived in a battleship.

"This is a historic visit, and it's an historic opportunity to engage with the Cuban people," said Obama, joined by first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha. Dozens of U.S. lawmakers and business leaders arrived separately for Obama's visit.

After greeting embassy staff, Obama and his family toured Old Havana by foot, including the Havana Cathedral.

For more than 50 years, Cuba was an unimaginable destination for a U.S. president, as well as most American citizens. The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro's revolution sparked fears of communism spreading to the Western Hemisphere. Domestic politics in both countries contributed to the continued estrangement well after the Cold War ended.

"He wanted to come to Cuba with all his heart," 79-year-old Odilia Collazo said in Spanish as she watched Obama's arrival live on state television. "Let God will that this is good for all Cubans. It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves."

Ahead of Obama's arrival, counter-protesters and police broke up an anti-government demonstration by the Ladies in White group, whose members were taken into custody by female police officers in a scene that plays out in Havana each Sunday. They're typically detained briefly and then released.

Obama's visit was highly anticipated in Cuba, where workers furiously cleaned up the streets in Old Havana and gave buildings a fresh coat of paint. American flags were raised alongside the Cuban colors in parts of the capital, an improbable image for those who have lived through a half-century of bitterness between the two countries.

Many Cubans were staying home in order to avoid extensive closures of main boulevards. The city's seaside Malecon promenade was largely deserted Sunday morning except for a few cars, joggers, fishermen and pelicans.

The president's schedule in Cuba is jam-packed, including an event with U.S. and Cuban entrepreneurs. But much of Obama's visit was about appealing directly to the Cuban people and celebrating the island's vibrant culture.

"I don't think that the Cuban people are going to be bewitched by North American culture," Gustavo Machin, Cuba's deputy director of U.S. affairs, told The Associated Press. "We don't fear ties with the United States."

A highlight of Obama's visit comes Tuesday when he joins Castro and a crowd of baseball-crazed Cubans for a game between the beloved national team and Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays. The president also planned a speech at the Grand Theater of Havana laying out his vision for greater freedoms and more economic opportunity in Cuba.

Two years after taking power in 2008, Castro launched economic and social reforms that appear slow-moving to many Cubans and foreigners, but are lasting and widespread within Cuban society. The changes have allowed hundreds of thousands of people to work in the private sector and have relaxed limits on cellphones, Internet and Cubans' comfort with discussing their country's problems in public, for example.

The Cuban government has been unyielding, however, on making changes to its single-party political system and to the strict limits on media, public speech, assembly and dissent.

Obama will spend some time talking with Cuban dissidents. The White House said such a meeting was a prerequisite for the visit. But there were no expectations that he would leave Cuba with significant pledges from the government to address Washington's human rights concerns.

A major focus for Obama was pushing his Cuba policy to the point it will be all but impossible for the next president to reverse it. That includes highlighting new business deals by American companies, including hotel chains Starwood and Marriott and online lodging service Airbnb.
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AP writers Josh Lederman, Andrea Rodriguez and E. Eduardo Castillo contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-21

[keemapoot]

This is a great thing, but many years too late. Cuba is a small and relatively unimportant trade partner, but symbolically, it sort of shuts the door on the era of the "Soviet bear at the door" implicit threat that almost led to World War III.

However, I look for statements soon from candidate Trump about his plans to scuttle this new rapprochement, especially if it has to do with opening new international business channels that benefit American businesses:

A major focus for Obama was pushing his Cuba policy to the point it will be all but impossible for the next president to reverse it. That includes highlighting new business deals by American companies, including hotel chains Starwood and Marriott and online lodging service Airbnb.

[canuckamuck]

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Edited March 21, 2016 by canuckamuck

[Boon Mee]

How many dozens of so-called 'protesters' did Castro throw in jail for Obama's visit?

Edited March 21, 2016 by Boon Mee

[Pimay1]

How many dozens of so-called 'protesters' did Castro throw in jail for Obama's visit?

Unfortunately all of them.

[wabothai]

Big deal that Cuba thing !

He should take care of the middle east "thing" foremost.

[Jingthing]

Happy to see it!

Legacy legacy legacy and a good one.

[JakeSully]

Big deal that Cuba thing !

He should take care of the middle east "thing" foremost.

Read this: The Obama Doctrine

Obama said he is fixated on turning America’s attention to Asia. For Obama, Asia represents the future. Africa and Latin America, in his view, deserve far more U.S. attention than they receive. Europe, about which he is unromantic, is a source of global stability that requires, to his occasional annoyance, American hand-holding. And the Middle East is a region to be avoided—

Read more: The Obama Doctrine

I agree.. why be the servants of the oil emirs, emperors and get involved when it's not our problem to begin with?

Instead lets get Cuban cigars for every American to enjoy and maybe a vacation in Cuba like things used to be.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Rimmer
Edited to reflect fair use rule

[skorp13]

He was so welcome Raul Castro didn't even bother to greet him

[Jingthing]

He was so welcome Raul Castro didn't even bother to greet him

I agree that was weird. It's super historic for both countries. Sounds like internal politics. It is insulting.

[GeorgesAbitbol]

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Bush was also deaf then?

[canuckamuck]

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Bush was also deaf then?

In your dissection of this analogy, how is it you assume the blind squirrel found the occasional nuts by hearing? Wouldn't the sense of smell be the more obvious choice.

[Linzz]

He was so welcome Raul Castro didn't even bother to greet him

I agree that was weird. It's super historic for both countries. Sounds like internal politics. It is insulting.

Trump said he would have turned the plane around and flown home

[keemapoot]

He was so welcome Raul Castro didn't even bother to greet him

I agree that was weird. It's super historic for both countries. Sounds like internal politics. It is insulting.

Trump said he would have turned the plane around and flown home

That was no surprise. There are no surprises on State visits. They are scripted down to every detail with advance team planning for a long time.

It's not exactly as though two equals are meeting is it? Cuba is a ant to the US elephant. If Raul wanted to have one last thumb of the nose to the US, this was his chance to get a shot at the elephant, and it had about the same effect as an ant walking across the elephant's path.

This will be used by Trump and others of course, as is natural.

[Shot]

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Shot

[keemapoot]

Remember this? Improved relations with the Soviet Union and the PRC are often cited as the most successful diplomatic achievements of Nixon’s presidency.^[1

The repercussions of the Nixon visit were vast, and included a significant shift in the Cold War balance, pitting the PRC with the U.S. against the Soviet Union. "Nixon going to China" has since become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician.

[willyumiii]

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Bush was also deaf then?

Bush couldn't find his won nuts with a map!

[simon101]

Just as now cooperation is getting better .. so quickly deteriorates as soon as Trump becomes president

[Linzz]

Remember this? Improved relations with the Soviet Union and the PRC are often cited as the most successful diplomatic achievements of Nixon’s presidency.^[1

The repercussions of the Nixon visit were vast, and included a significant shift in the Cold War balance, pitting the PRC with the U.S. against the Soviet Union. "Nixon going to China" has since become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician.

Yeah and Trump and Putin have got something going in the mutual strong man admiration society

[keemapoot]

I don't care much for Obama and generally consider him a largely ineffective President. But, today in Havana, he is having a legacy-building Presidential moment, that really does bring back memories of Nixon in China:

Monday afternoon here in Havana, he did it to Raúl Castro, right in the Revolutionary Palace, letting him be pressed with questions for the first time — ever — and joining in himself. And not just that: he had to answer for the political prisoners that the government rounds up almost daily, but denies exist at all.

Cubans watching on state television, which broadcast the whole thing live and in full, have never seen something like this. Neither has the White House press corps. Or anyone who works at the White House

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/how-obama-set-a-trap-for-raul-castro-221059#ixzz43aKp1EeG
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

The awkward photo that ended the event, with Obama looking like he had a limp wrist because he resisted Castro’s attempt to raise their hands together in victory as they walked out of the room, couldn’t change what had happened in what’s likely to be the most important hour of the president’s two-day trip here.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/how-obama-set-a-trap-for-raul-castro-221059#ixzz43aLTKm7U
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

[Jingthing]

Just as now cooperation is getting better .. so quickly deteriorates as soon as Trump becomes president

Not going to happen.

[Sydebolle]

So it's all over now, we're all good friends and actually all love each other.

While I am very much in favour of "normalised" relations it is pathetic how hopelessly poor the US foreign politics work. They declare, with loud voices to be heard everywhere, sanctions, economic beatings, travel bans etc. for all the planet's bad boys and girls ........ just to lift the entire thing a generation later and expect that they are welcome like the ice cream man by kids.

Fact is, that the Castros run the country since 1959; not to everybody's liking (as nowhere on the planet) but managed to keep steamrollering attempts of 10 US presidents (namely Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush sen., Clinton and Bush jun.) US presidents at bay.

On that note it is noteworthy that the US kept on creating havoc all over the planet, just to return a generation or two later on with their hat in their hands and pretend as there has never been anything darkening the skies. See Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar, China and the Soviet Union - all because these countries chose a different government model than the American one.

It is time that the Americans start minding their own business - and only their own business; quite obviously many different thinkers managed to keep an upright back despite unfair embargoes, bashings and bad mouthing. America belongs to the Americans, and likewise the Cubans own Cuba. What would happen if the Canadians - all of a sudden - would file an UN petition to demilitarise the US and to rid America of nuclear arsenal - imagine that for a moment

Edited March 22, 2016 by Sydebolle

[JakeSully]

President Castro: Look at us. We're buddies!

President Obama: No, Bro. No!

[GeorgesAbitbol]

It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves.

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

Bush was also deaf then?

In your dissection of this analogy, how is it you assume the blind squirrel found the occasional nuts by hearing? Wouldn't the sense of smell be the more obvious choice.

Never heard the sound of a nut cracking?