For Obama, there's no better place than Havana to show that engagement can do more than isolation to bring about tangible change on the communist island. At the press conference, Obama said ties are being strengthened, and he expressed hope that process would continue even given the irritants over differing views of human rights. — "We're moving ahead with more trade," he said. "With only 90 miles (145 km) between us, we are natural trading partners." Yet for the Cubans, the glaring question is whether their own government is ready to prove the ambitious diplomatic opening is more than just talk. American companies, eager for opportunities in Cuba, were wasting no time. Obama announced that tech giant Google struck a deal to expand Wi-Fi and broadband internet on the island, 145 kilometres south of Florida. "The time is right," Obama told ABC News when asked about the timing of his visit. "Although we still have significant differences around human rights and individual liberties inside Cuba, we felt that coming now would maximize our ability to prompt more change, particularly because this has been welcomed by the Cuban people with enormous popularity." 'Change is going to happen' In the ABC interview, Obama said he knows change will "not happen overnight," in Cuba, but that it is happening. "Change is going to happen [in Cuba], and I think that [President] Raul Castro understands that," he said. Barack Obama stands in front of a monument depicting Cuba's revolution hero Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and listens to the U.S. national anthem during a ceremony at the José Marti Monument in Havana. (Dennis Rivera/Associated Press) Obama opened his first full day of his three-day visit to Cuba by adjusting a wreath at the Havana memorial to José Marti, where an 18-metre statue pays tribute to the Cuban independence hero and writer. Hand on his heart, Obama stood in Revolution Square as a band played the American national anthem stunning sounds in a country where resistance to U.S. influence has been part of the — government's national mission for decades. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years. The first and only U.S. president in office to visit the island was Calvin Coolidge in January 1928. Former president
For Obama, there's no better place than Havana to show that engagement can do more than isolation to bring about tangible change on the communist island. At the press conference, Obama said ties are being strengthened, and he expressed hope that process would continue — even given the irritants over differing views of human rights. "We're moving ahead with more trade," he said. "With only 90 miles (145 km) between us, we are natural trading partners." Yet for the Cubans, the glaring question is whether their own government is ready to prove the ambitious diplomatic opening is more than just talk. American companies, eager for opportunities in Cuba, were wasting no time. Obama announced that tech giant Google struck a deal to expand Wi-Fi and broadband internet on the island, 145 kilometres south of Florida. "The time is right," Obama told ABC News when asked about the timing of his visit. "Although we still have significant differences around human rights and individual liberties inside Cuba, we felt that coming now would maximize our ability to prompt more change, particularly because this has been welcomed by the Cuban people with enormous popularity." 'Change is going to happen' In the ABC interview, Obama said he knows change will "not happen overnight," in Cuba, but that it is happening. "Change is going to happen [in Cuba], and I think that [President] Raul Castro understands that," he said. Barack Obama stands in front of a monument depicting Cuba's revolution hero Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and listens to the U.S. national anthem during a ceremony at the José Marti Monument in Havana. (Dennis Rivera/Associated Press) Obama opened his first full day of his three-day visit to Cuba by adjusting a wreath at the Havana memorial to José Marti, where an 18-metre statue pays tribute to the Cuban independence hero and writer. Hand on his heart, Obama stood in Revolution Square as a band played the American national anthem — stunning sounds in a country where resistance to U.S. influence has been part of the government's national mission for decades. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in 88 years. The first and only U.S. president in office to visit the island was Calvin Coolidge in January 1928. Former president
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