Obama Takes Soggy Tour Of Havana, Speaks To Embassy Staff

Obama
President Barack Obama and his family -- first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia -- arrived to Havana, Cuba, on Sunday for a historic visit. They visited a monument of Cuban independence hero Carlos Manuel De Cespedes as they toured the city's iconic streets and visited staff from the recently opened U.S. Embassy soon after arriving. Photo by Olivier Douliery/ABACA/UPI

HAVANA, March 21 (UPI) — U.S. President Barack Obama and his family met with staff of the U.S. Embassy in Havana and took a partial tour of the city after making a historic visit to Cuba.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama and his daughters, Sasha and Malia, arrived at Cuba’s Jose Marti International Airport on Sunday afternoon as part of his ongoing effort to normalize historically collapsed relations with the Communist-run island nation.

As the Obamas traveled and toured through Havana, crowds gathered to take pictures — some yelling “We love you, Obama” and some chanting “USA! USA!”

The Obama family’s first stop was to visit U.S. Embassy staff for an official meet and greet.

“It’s been nearly 90 years since a U.S. president stepped foot in Cuba. It is wonderful to be here,” President Obama said at the Melia Habana Hotel.

“For the first time ever, Air Force One has landed in Cuba, and this is our very first stop. So this is a historic visit, and it’s a historic opportunity to engage directly with the Cuban people and to forge new agreements and commercial deals, to build new ties between our two peoples, and for me to lay out my vision for a future that’s brighter than our past.”

Obama went on to praise U.S. Embassy staff members “who embody the spirit of friendship and partnership that brings us together today.”

The Obamas made their way to Old Havana’s Plaza de Arms, where they viewed a statue of Carlos Manuel De Cespedes, who declared Cuba’s independence from Spanish rule in 1868 after freeing his slaves. Cespedes’ uprising led to the Guerra de los Diez AƱos, or the Ten Years’ War — the first of multiple liberation wars against Spanish rule.

The first family also visited Havana’s Museo De La Ciudad, or City Museum, where Spain’s colonialist governors used to reside generations ago. Obama was greeted with a display of a painting of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, which was created by James R. Lambdin in 1863 and was gifted to Cuba in the 1960s.

On Monday, Obama is expected to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Josi Marti Memorial. Marti was a poet and journalist who fought for Cuban independence.

Cuban President 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 during his visit.

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