President Obama makes historic visit to Cuba

President Barack Obama landed in Cuba this week for the first visit by a US president to the nation in over 80 years. Along with first lady Michelle Obama and his two daughters the president’s trip is set to be “history-making” and “is just the latest example of why he will be such a tough act to follow and sorely missed by the country and the world,” according to a statement released by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Obama himself announced to members of the US Embassy in Havana, “This is a historic visit,” according to the Guardian. The three day trip to Cuba is one of many efforts in recent years to broker peace and diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba by President Obama.

Obama eased restrictions on families between the two nations in 2009, the same year American Alan Gross was accused of spying and later sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in Cuba. In 2013 Obama shook hands with Raúl Castro at Nelson Mandela’s memorial, the first public exchange between a US president and leader of Cuba since the Cuban revolution in 1959. Then in December 2014 with the help of Pope Francis a landmark deal was brokered between the two nations, securing the release of Gross and three other imprisoned Cuban spies. The deal demonstrated the beginning of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba.

This visit to Cuba is a symbol of continued dedication to re-establishing a relationship with the country based on peace rather than negotiation. According to the Guardian Ben Rhodes, a US national security adviser, told reporters in Washington, “Obama will make clear that the United States is not a hostile nation seeking regime change.” These efforts are hopefully leading to an end to the US trade embargo on Cuba which the UN has condemned as violating international law with its harsh restrictions.

Rev. Jackson stated:

It took President Obama to do it, despite a do-nothing Congress committed to obstruction.”

Jackson went to Cuba in 1984 to meet with President Fidel Castro on a mission to bring back Cuban American prisoners, a sign of good faith on behalf of Cuba, and said then to Castro:

We must give peace a chance.”

Despite this being his last year in office and criticism of his efforts in Cuba Obama continues to encourage peace and influence the growing movement within the US to lift the embargo with this historic trip.

Mary Schlichte