Tomorrow (March 21) President Obama will become the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928.
During his visit he is expected to use the occasion to speak about issues that the US believes will bring about political change in Cuba: entrepreneurship, opening up the internet, freedom of speech, and a free media. He will also be critical of Cuba’s record on dissidence and human rights. As his Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, recently observed, President Obama hopes that by doing so he will empower new economic actors, encourage confidence and pluralism, and more generally foster a more normal relationship between the US and Cuba and their peoples.
In response, President Raúl Castro, while welcoming his visitor is likely to be clear that Cuba will not compromise its hard fought for independence and political and social approach.
In a lengthy commentary on March 9, the official Communist Party newspaper, Granma, set out Cuba’s red lines