WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Barack Obama is set to visit Havana on March 21-22 in his efforts to normalize US-Cuban relations and boost economic ties, but human rights and Guantanamo Bay are likely to prove contentious issues.
"We [the Obama administration] see this trip as continuing the process that accelerated on December 17th with the announcement that the US and Cuba would begin to normalize relations… as we are very clear about areas of continued disagreement, including our strong support for human rights," US Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters earlier this week.
On December 17, Obama announced the normalization of US-Cuban relations, including the elimination of selected financial, trade and travel restrictions and plans to remove Cuba from the US list of terrorist sponsors. Obama also said he was ready to negotiate with the US Congress about lifting the 55-year trade and travel embargo against Cuba, acknowledging that the blockade policy did not meet US interests.
On Monday, March 21, Obama begins the official program of his visit and is scheduled to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro in a bilateral discussion to review progress made on the normalization of relations.
The meeting, according to the White House, will allow the two presidents to discuss areas where the US and Cuban governments have been able to initiate bilateral cooperation, and to address how both countries can expand space for people-to-people exchanges and greater commercial opportunities.
"President Obama will likely raise Cuba’s human rights record when he meets with [Cuban] officials; the continued operation of Guantanamo will make it more difficult for him to have moral leadership on the issue," Human Rights First said in a press release on Friday.
Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
