Barack Obama will pay a historic visit to Cuba next month — becoming the first US President to set foot on the island in nearly seven decades, the White House is expected to announce today.
The communist nation was estranged from its superpower neighbour for half a century until Mr Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro acted to relaunch ties in 2014. They have since re- opened embassies in Washington and Havana and moved to restore commercial air travel.
Mr Obama’s visit, long expected in his final year as President, is seen as a key next step to bridging the divide. In December he told of his wish to meet political dissidents in Cuba — to help “nudge its government in a new direction”.
News of the visit by Mr Obama, left, sparked anger from opponents of warmer ties with Cuba. Among them were Republican presidential candidates — including Ted Cruz, whose father fled to the US from Cuba in the 1950s.
Mr Cruz said the President would be acting “as an apologist” and should not go while the Castro family remains in power. Florida senator Marco Rubio, another child of Cuban immigrants, said Mr Obama would be visiting an “anti-American communist dictatorship”.
He added: “Today, a year and two months after the opening of Cuba, its government is as oppressive as ever.”
Mr Obama’s brief visit will be part of a broader trip to Latin America he is undertaking next month.
With less than a year left in office, he is eager for rapid progress on restoring economic and diplomatic ties with Cuba to cement the reconciliation process his administration started.
Following secret negotiations between both governments, the two leaders announced in late 2014 that they would begin normalising ties.
The first face-to-face meeting between a US and Cuban leader since 1958 was held last April in Panama.
On Tuesday both nations signed a deal restoring commercial air traffic, possibly this year. This would eliminate a barrier to unfettered travel that isolated Cuban-Americans from their families for generations. Hundreds of thousands more Americans are expected to visit Cuba every year under the deal.
No sitting US President has been to Cuba since Harry Truman visited US-controlled Guantanamo Bay on the south-east end of the island in 1948.
