HAVANA, March 20 (UPI) — President Barack Obama will make a historic trip to Cuba Sunday in an effort to build on the progress he has already made to normalize relations with the communist-run island nation.
The first family, including first lady Michelle Obama and daughters, Sasha and Malia, will fly in to the in Havana this afternoon when the president will begin working to advance commercial and people-to-people ties that he believes can improve the well-being of the Cuban people, the White House announced.
The president and first lady will meet with embassy personnel and families, then take a walking tour of Old Havana that will include a stop at the Cathedral de San Cristobal de la Habana on Sunday evening, the International Business Times reported.
Obama is scheduled to meet with Cardinal Ortega of the Roman Catholic Church. The White House describes the church as playing an “integral role” in helping to reopen relations between the two countries.
The family will spend the night in Havana.
The president’s full day on Monday starts with a wreath-laying at the Josi Marti Memorial. Marti was a poet and journalist who fought for Cuban independence.
Cuban leader Raul Castro will officially welcome Obama at the Palace of the Revolution and the two will hold a meeting in the afternoon. Obama will take part in an entrepreneurship summit followed by a state dinner in the evening.
Obama will not meet formally with longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
On Tuesday, Obama will address the Cuban people in Havana from the El Gran Teatro, followed by a visit with civil society leaders and dissidents. The White House has not released any specifics on which leaders and activists meeting with the president.
For hundreds of thousands of black Cubans, Obama isn’t just the first sitting U.S. president to visit their country in nearly nine decades. A black man’s rise to the world’s most powerful job is a source of pride and inspiration for many on the island, ABC News reported.
This visit has raised Cubans’ hopes that a new era in relations with the U.S. will improve lives and end the U.S. trade embargo once and for all.
Before departing Cuba on Tuesday, Obama will take in a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team. From Cuba, he will fly to Argentina.
