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| FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2016 file photo, President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The president said Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, he'll raise human rights issues and other U.S. concerns with Cuban President Raul Castro during a history-making visit to the communist island nation. The brief visit in mid-March will mark a watershed moment in relations between the U.S. and Cuba, making Obama the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on the island in nearly seven decades. 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. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- President Barack Obama's plans for a history-making trip to
Cuba drew hopeful cheers in Havana on Thursday but equally emphatic
condemnation from many U.S. lawmakers and Republican presidential
candidates, who accused the president of rewarding a "dictatorial
regime."
Jeb Bush called the plans
"appalling." Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, born in Havana, deemed
Obama's March 21-22 visit "absolutely shameful." New Jersey Sen. Bob
Menendez - a member of Obama's party - accused him of ceding U.S.
leverage to the communist nation 90 miles south of Florida.
"The
president is again prioritizing short-term economic interests over
long-term and enduring American values," said Menendez, another
Cuban-American. He likened Obama's rapprochement with Cuba to his
nuclear deal with Iran.
Not so, said Obama,
who pledged to press President Raul Castro on human rights and other
thorny issues during their sit-down in the Cuban capital. The White
House said pointedly that it had put Castro's government on notice that
Obama would also meet with dissidents and activists -a precondition the
president had laid out for a visit.
"We still
have differences with the Cuban government that I will raise directly,"
Obama said as he announced the visit on Twitter.
The
trip will mark a watershed moment in U.S.-Cuba relations, making Obama
the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on the island in nearly
seven decades. The U.S. was estranged from the communist nation for over
half a century until Obama and Castro moved toward detente more than a
year ago.
Since then, the nations have
reopened embassies in Washington and Havana and moved to restore
commercial flights, with a presidential visit seen as a key next step.
Yosvany
Martinez, a 36-year-old government parking attendant in Havana, said
he'd seen changes in his country since the thaw in relations: more
tourism and happier people. But Cubans are still struggling
economically, he said.
"This visit for me and
for all Cubans will be an open door to what we need, which is that they
finally lift the blockade, which is what hurts us," Martinez said.
Obama
hopes to persuade Congress to lift the trade embargo - Havana's biggest
request of the U.S. Although short-term prospects have seemed unlikely,
some Republicans have suggested Congress could pass legislation
repealing sanctions by year's end.
Cuban
Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca, in Washington for business
talks, told The Associated Press that Obama's visit will be good news
for his country.
"The president will be welcomed," he said in Spanish.
Though
Obama sees the re-launch with Cuba as a major achievement of his
foreign policy, he's had to strike
a careful balance to defend engaging
with a communist government that still is seen as stifling political
opposition and restricting free speech.
The
White House pointed to Cuba's recent release of long-term political
prisoners, expansion of Internet hotspots and easing of restrictions on
private business. On the economic front, the two nations signed a deal
this week on commercial air traffic, and the U.S. approved its first
factory in Cuba since 1959, when Fidel Castro took power and
nationalized billions in American property.
Still,
Obama's advisers said the U.S. isn't satisfied with Cuba's human rights
approach, citing a rise in short-term detentions as one example.
Obama
has argued that the long U.S. effort to put an economic squeeze on Cuba
has failed to advance U.S. interests. Engaging the former Cold War foe
offers better prospects for reform, Obama and supporters of the policy
change maintain.
"For Cubans accustomed to
watching their government sputter down the last mile of socialism in a
'57 Chevy, imagine what they'll think when they see Air Force One," said
Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and one of Obama's closest
allies on Cuba. Last year Flake traveled to Havana with Secretary of
State John Kerry as the American flag was raised over the re-opened U.S.
Embassy.
Castro's government offered no
details about preparations, though it typically marshals thousands of
police and soldiers for any major state visit to maintain control and
order on the streets. The logistics will require some creativity as the
White House sends the president and his massive entourage into a country
with sketchy Internet and limited connectivity for U.S. cellphones.
From Cuba, Obama will travel to Argentina, where he'll meet with new President Mauricio Macri.
Texas
Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father came to the U.S. from Cuba, said Obama
shouldn't visit while the Castro family remains in power. Told of
Obama's trip, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio quipped that Obama is "probably
not going to invite me."
Both Democratic
presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, support
moving toward normalizing relations and lifting the trade embargo.
The last sitting president to visit Havana was Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Former President Jimmy Carter visited in 2011.
