US President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal for political liberties in Cuba, including freedom of expression and religion, as he spoke directly to the Cuban people in a historic speech b
US President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal for political liberties in Cuba, including freedom of expression and religion, as he spoke directly to the Cuban people in a historic speech broadcast throughout the Communist-ruled island.
Speaking at Havana’s Grand Theater with Cuban President Raul Castro in attendance in what White House officials touted as a crowning moment of Mr Obama’s visit, the US President extended a “hand of friendship.” He declared that he had come to Havana to “bury the last remnant” of the Cold War in the Americas.
But he also pressed for economic and political reforms, speaking in a one-party state where little dissent is tolerated.
“Voters should be able to choose their governments in free and fair elections,” he said, describing this as consistent with what the United States wants for countries around the world. Not everybody agrees with me on this, not everybody agrees with the American people on this but I believe those human rights are universal. I believe they’re the rights of the American people, the Cuban people and people around the world,” Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama’s address marked the final day of his trip, the first by a US President to Cuba in 88 years. His presence in Havana was the culmination of a diplomatic opening that he and Mr Castro announced in December 2014, ending decades of estrangement between Washington and Havana.
He drew strong applause from the audience when he reiterated his call for an end to the longstanding US economic embargo against Cuba, which only the US Congress can lift.
“Creo en el pueblo Cubano,” he said, then repeating himself in English: “I believe in the Cuban people.”
“It is an outdated burden on the Cuban people. It’s a burden on the Americans who want to work and do business or invest here in Cuba,” he said. “It’s time to lift the embargo.”
Mr Obama was due to meet with Cuban dissidents on Tuesday and watch a baseball game with the Cuban President after delivering the speech.
Mr Obama, whose White House tenure ends in January, also will meet with civil society leaders at the US embassy to back up his warning to Mr Castro that a failure to improve Cuba’s human rights record would hinder momentum toward ending the decades-old US embargo.
The White House has not released a list of the activist leaders Mr Obama plans to meet.
Mr Castro bristled at a rare press conference on Monday when asked by a US journalist about detention of political opponents. He denied such practices and demanded a list of examples.
“Tell me now. What political prisoners Give me a name, or the names,” Mr Castro said. “And if there are these political prisoners they will be free before nightfall.”
The White House said it had shared many such lists with the Cuban government before.
Mr Obama’s meeting with dissidents underscores lingering tensions between the former Cold War foes despite the rapprochement in 2014 that led to Sunday’s one-time unthinkable arrival of Air Force One on Cuban soil.
It also reflects Mr Obama’s need to convince critics at home that his visit would not be used to prop up the Castro government.
