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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe’ve Reached Havana (By President Barack Obama)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/weve-reached-havana_b_9518152.htmlBy Barack Obama
44th President of the United States
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk to the motorcade after touring Old Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016.
¡Hola desde Cuba!
Michelle, the girls, and I are here in Havana on our first full day in Cuba. Cubans have lined the streets to welcome us, and its humbling to be the first U.S. president in nearly 90 years to visit a country and a people just 90 miles from our shores.
Like so many Americans, Ive only known the isolation that has existed between our two governments. I was born in 1961, the year of the Bay of Pigs invasion. A year later, a Cold War confrontation over Cuba pushed the world as close as its ever been to nuclear war. As the decades passed, the mistrust between our governments resulted in heartache for our two peoples, including Cuban Americans, many of whom have endured decades of separation from their homeland and relatives.
Ive come to Havana to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people. Im here to bury the last vestige of the Cold War in the Americas and to forge a new era of understanding to help improve the daily lives of the Cuban people.
There continue to be real and important differences between our governments, including profound differences on the way to promote safety, security, opportunity, and human rights. But theres so much Americans and Cubans share our cultures and passions, our hopes for the future, not to mention a love of baseball.
I know one visit, and one president, cannot erase the decades of history that have left so many Cubans in poverty or exile. But sometimes the most important changes begin with the smallest step. I believe in the Cuban people and their desire to build a future of their own choosing. And I believe that changing the way we do things between our countries will, over time, help make that possible.
So Im looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from Cubans from all walks of life. And Im confident that, working together with the Cuban people, our two countries can begin a new journey together that delivers progress for both our peoples.
This post originally appeared on Medium.
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We’ve Reached Havana (By President Barack Obama) (Original Post)
MrWendel
Mar 2016
OP
underpants
(182,279 posts)1. That's our man
Xolodno
(6,341 posts)2. Was watching the local news...
...they interviewed Cubans who were opposed to Obama's visit.
They we're all "up there in years".
MrWendel
(1,881 posts)3. The only...
way this works is reaching out to the young generation of Cubans.
Bayard
(21,806 posts)4. Remember this
This will be one of the most remembered and applauded events in U.S. history, and Cuba's. Yes, that's our guy!
Of course, repubs are raving about Communists.....
Hekate
(90,202 posts)5. Damn I am going to miss the Obamas.
He is going down in history as one of our great presidents.