President
Obama promised in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News that he “very
much” hopes to visit Cuba during his last year in office, but only if he
can meet with pro-democracy dissidents there.
“If
I go on a visit, then part of the deal is that I get to talk to
everybody,” Obama said. “I’ve made very clear in my conversations
directly with President [Raul] Castro that we would continue to reach
out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free
expression inside of Cuba.”
Speaking
in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Obama strongly hinted that he
would make a decision “over the next several months.”
The
president said he hopes that “sometime next year” he and his top aides
will see enough progress in Cuba that they can say that “now would be a
good time to shine a light on progress that’s been made, but also maybe
(go) there to nudge the Cuban government in a new direction.”
White
House aides privately describe an Obama visit – under the right
circumstances – as the logical culmination of the new policy direction
that he announced almost exactly one year ago.
On
Dec. 17, 2014, Obama and Raul Castro stunned the world by disclosing
that they had held secret negotiations and were prepared to usher in a
new era of U.S.-Cuba relations, starting with the resumption of full
diplomatic ties. Embassies reopened in Havana and Washington, the United
States removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and
the two sides took steps to increase travel and business opportunities.
Obama
has undertaken many changes using his executive powers, and indicated
in the interview that he would continue looking at ways to do so in
2016. But Obama needs Congress to roll back the centerpiece of America’s
Cold War-era pressure on Cuba and lift the U.S. trade embargo.
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