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On Monday morning, we heard something many thought impossible just two years ago: a Cuban government band playing the American national anthem .

President Barack Obama had arrived in Cuba the night before, the first official visit of a US president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. In many ways, it represents the culmination of Obama's approach to the island: a concerted effort to break down the decades-old US embargo and move toward normal relations.

Here's a brief guide, then, to Obama's Cuba trip: what he's doing and why it matters.

Obama's Cuba trip is a victory lap

Air Force One carrying U.S. President Barack Obama and his family flies over a neighborhood of Havana as it approaches the runway to land at Havana's international airport, March 20, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer #ReutersPhotos #obama #cuba #havana #airforceone #picoftheday #historic #plane A photo posted by Reuters (@reuters) on Mar 21, 2016 at 3:14am PDT

Vox's Libby Nelson has a good rundown of Obama's agenda in Cuba, which includes:

• A tour of Old Havana
• A meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the Cuban clergyman who played a backchannel role in Obama's negotiations with the Castro government
• Visiting an art museum
• Taking in a baseball game with Cuban leader Raúl Castro. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will play Cuba's national team.
• Delivering a televised speech to the Cuban people

If this sounds like the normal stuff of a state visit, that's because it is. But a "normal" meeting, in the long run of US-Cuba relations , is really stunning.

Obama still hasn't ended the American embargo on Cuba; only Congress can do that. Rather, he has relaxed specific trade barriers. What he has changed, successfully, is the American diplomatic approach that underpinned that embargo: treating Cuba as a pariah state, much like North Korea or Iran.

The new strategy is to work with Cuba rather than against it: to attempt to improve life in the country through negotiations and commercial ties rather than attempting to topple the communist government through isolation and economic pressure.

"His policy toward the island is, without a doubt, his boldest hemispheric initiative," Susan Segal, the president and CEO of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, writes for CNN .

"It chips away at a more than half-century-old embargo policy that has hurt ordinary Cubans, put US commercial interests at a disadvantage compared to those of other countries, and poisoned the US relationship with the rest of the continent."

This has already had some effect. The number of Americans visiting Cuba increased by 77 percent in 2015, a figure that's only likely to increase further as US airlines open up direct flights to Cuba.

"The arrival of so many visitors … represented a boon for all manner of Cuban-owned small businesses in the island’s services-focused cuentapropista (or self-employment) sector," Michael Bustamante, a PhD student at Yale who studies Cuba, writes in Foreign Affairs .

"On the international business front, meanwhile, some US companies, such as the apartment-sharing service Airbnb, are now operating on the island; many more are looking for opportunities or are in talks with Cuban officials," Bustamante continues.

Obama's trip to Cuba is a way of building on these accomplishments. If the US and Cuba do normal activities like state visits, then this signals to the populations of both countries that the era of unremitting hostility is ending.

"In some respects, the US-Cuban rapprochement is still tenuous, and Obama’s visit is necessary to give a boost to a process plagued by fits and starts," Bustamante writes.

But it's also the start of a new, complicated policy

Coming to a Drudge splash soon pic.twitter.com/aZeoUrNSm6 — Elliott Schwartz (@elliosch) March 21, 2016

Still, Obama has a long way to go if he wants to continue relaxing the decades of US-Cuba hostility.

That includes, for example, easing bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult to actually deepen business ties.

There's also the question of how the US will deal with Cuba's terrible human rights record. My colleague Max Fisher explains some of that record:

According to Freedom House, Cuba has the most restrictive press censorship in the Western Hemisphere and is the only country rated "not free" in the Americas. All official media is owned by the state and controlled by the government. Dissident bloggers are regularly arrested . According to Amnesty International, protestors are regularly arrested and detained without trial . The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba says there were over 6,000 arbitrary detentions of human rights activists in 2013 .

In the past, the US has tried to pressure Cuba into reform. Clearly that hasn't worked. On this trip, Obama is scheduled to meet with Cuban dissidents on Tuesday. It would be surprising if he didn't mention something, at least obliquely, during his televised address to the Cuban people.

Judging from some early Obama comments, it looks like he's trying to debut something along the lines of the US approach to China. The US certainly makes an issue of Chinese human rights violations, but it is unwilling to seriously threaten trade ties over domestic repression.

The ultimate hope is that sustained diplomatic engagement and liberalized trade will encourage ordinary Chinese citizens to engage in political activism, leading them (rather than the US) to create the pressure necessary to change their government.

"We still have some work to do," Obama told  ABC 's David Muir in a Sunday interview in Havana. "I think it is very important for the United States not to view ourselves as the agents of change here, but rather to encourage and facilitate Cubans themselves to bring about changes. … We want to make sure that whatever changes come about are empowering Cubans."

Obama is a good messenger for human rights in Cuba: About 80 percent of Cubans approve of his job performance, likely as a result of widespread support for the US opening. In fact, observers say that Cubans will be let down if Obama doesn't highlight repression.

"If Obama focuses too much on corporate signing ceremonies rather than Cubans’ desires for greater political and economic openness domestically, he will also be seen as having let the island’s authorities off the hook," Bustamante argues.

But Obama has to be careful. Cubans remember the long history of malign American interference in their country's life, so overweening lectures could end up backfiring. The trick is to highlight human rights in a way that pays respect to the issue's importance without coming across as arrogant or paternalistic.

"One of the most important gestures Obama can make is to acknowledge that Cuban society is complex and that its problems do not lend themselves to quick, imported fixes," Bustamante concludes. "Cubans themselves, ultimately, and only Cubans themselves, must be the principal agents of their economic and political futures."

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President Obama’s Trip to Cuba: What You Need to Know

Obama will be the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years

— -- When President Obama arrives in Cuba on Sunday, he will be the first sitting president in nearly 90 years to set foot on the island nation.

The last sitting president to visit the country was Calvin Coolidge , who arrived on a battleship in 1928. It’s a stark contrast to President Obama, who will land in Cuba on Air Force One .

Here's everything you need to know about the president’s history-making trip to Cuba.

President Obama Sends Letter to Cuba on First Direct Mail Flight in 50 Years

"world news tonight" anchor david muir gets exclusive interview with president barack obama in havana during the president's historic trip to cuba, why is obama traveling to cuba now.

The president’s trip comes 15 months after he announced the restoration of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba. At the time, President Obama told ABC News Anchor David Muir he would “see how things evolve” before deciding whether he would travel to the country.

Over the past year, U.S. officials have worked to reopen Cuba to America with historic agreements, including direct flight agreements and the first direct mail delivery to the country just this week, which included a letter for President Obama.

The White House originally said the president would travel to the island nation only after seeing substantive change, but President Obama decided to visit Cuba early to help accelerate that change in his final year in office.

What will he do in Cuba?

President Obama will spend two and half days in Cuba accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters Malia and Sasha. On Monday, he will participate in an official state visit, including a bilateral meeting with President Raul Castro and a state dinner. He will also speak to entrepreneurs in the country.

The president plans to address the Cuban people directly in a historic speech on Tuesday. He is also expected to meet with dissidents, and the sports fanatic president will take in an exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National team.

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Obama will also have the chance to play tourist and take in the famous sites of old Havana. But the White House says there’s one famous Cuban the president won’t meet with -- Fidel Castro .

Don't some people oppose his trip to Cuba?

Yes. President Obama has come under fire from some lawmakers, including many Cuban-American Democrats and Republicans, for the normalization of relations between the two countries and for agreeing to a state visit while the Castro family is still in power.

The trip also comes as a decades-long trade embargo remains in place. Only Congress can lift the embargo, but so far, lawmakers have resisted President Obama’s call to end it.

While the president’s Cuba policy has met some resistance, the White House hopes the president’s trip will help make it “irreversible,” Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said.

What happens next?

The embargo limits how much business American companies can do in Cuba, and President Obama has acknowledged the embargo likely won’t be lifted by the end of his term.

The Obama administration has taken a few steps on its own to ease some restrictions in Cuba just this week, including making it easier for people to travel to Cuba -- for individuals to engage in “people to people” travel for educational purpose on their own instead of through tour groups; allowing American companies to hire Cuban nationals; and adjusting the banking system to process money from Cuba in the U.S.

And there are more changes in the works. Last month, the U.S. and Cuba agreed to authorize daily commercial flights between the two countries, and the government is currently considering applications from American airlines to operate these flights.

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Obama in Cuba on historic visit

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The Two-Way

President obama touches down in cuba, commencing a historic visit.

Scott Horsley

U.S. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama arrive at Jose Marti International Airport on Airforce One for a 48-hour visit on March 20, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

U.S. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama arrive at Jose Marti International Airport on Airforce One for a 48-hour visit on March 20, 2016 in Havana, Cuba.

One of the last vestiges of the Cold War was buried Sunday, when President Obama set foot in Cuba. He's the first American president to visit the island since Calvin Coolidge, 88 years ago.

"Que bola', Cuba?" Obama tweeted in an informal greeting, moments after Air Force One touched down at Havana's Jose Marti Airport. "Looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people."

¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people. — President Obama (@POTUS44) March 20, 2016

Holding an umbrella against a light rain, Obama and the first family were greeted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. The motorcade then made its way to a meeting with staff of the U.S. embassy, which re-opened last summer after a half-century of official isolation.

Obama and his wife and daughters planned to visit the Havana Cathedral on Sunday evening and meet with Cardinal Ortega — recognition of the prominent role he and Pope Francis played in encouraging the Administration's surprise thaw with Cuba that was announced in December 2014.

The president was to be joined in Cuba by more three dozen members of Congress, including several who accompanied the first family on Air Force One. Several U.S. business leaders will also take part in the visit, including an executive from Starwood hotels, which just inked an agreement to manage three Cuban properties.

The U.S. And Cuba: A Brief History Of A Complicated Relationship

The history-making trip is designed to cement the Administration's diplomatic outreach to Cuba, making it hard for any future president to return to the half-century old policy of isolation that Obama and his team consider a failure.

Only Congress can lift the trade embargo against Cuba. But over the past 15 months, the Administration has been chipping away at it, easing restrictions on both travel and commerce.

The number of Americans traveling to Cuba jumped nearly 80 percent last year. That's expected to increase as airlines resume scheduled service later this year, with up to 110 flights a day.

Thus far, the U.S. overtures have been met with little reciprocal movement by the Cuban government. Obama is expected to press Cuban President Raul Castro to do more open both Cuba's economy and the political system when the two leaders meet on Monday.

The White House says Obama will also raise the issue of Cuba's human rights abuses and he plans to meet separately with anti-government activists on Tuesday. A weekly demonstration by the Ladies in White group was quickly silenced Sunday afternoon, and more than 50 dissidents were hauled away, hours before Obama's arrival.

A happier demonstration is expected Tuesday at Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano, where the Tampa Bay Rays will play an exhibition baseball game against the Cuban national team. The contest is a nod to the popular passtime the two countries share, and comes as Major Leage Baseball is negotiating a deal to let Cuban ballplayers sign with big league teams without having to defect.

In Havana'a central park, where baseball is a frequent topic of conversation, residents are looking forward to the matchup. Narcis Vallant says no matter which team comes out on top, both countries will be winners.

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Obama Going to Cuba; First Visit by U.S. President in 88 Years

By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

• Feb. 18, 2016

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s decision to travel to Cuba next month and meet with President Raúl Castro reflects his determination to do as much as possible before he leaves office to pry open the historic and ideological barricades that have separated the United States from its neighbor since the Cold War.

It also represents something of a familiar gamble for Mr. Obama, who in becoming the first sitting American president to visit Cuba in 88 years will be testing his conviction that aggressive engagement, rather than harsh isolation, is the best way to prod an adversary to change.

In announcing the trip on Thursday, Mr. Obama was betting on the power of his office and the force of his personal diplomacy to persuade Mr. Castro to do more to open his mostly state-run economy and respect human rights. The Cuban leader has been unwilling to take those steps since the two presidents announced in December 2014 that they would move toward normalized relations after a half-century of hostility.

If Mr. Obama is wrong, the visit could instead highlight the deep differences that persist between the two nations.

While the administration has rushed over the past year to loosen restrictions on travel and commerce and remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House conceded on Thursday that Cuba had done comparatively little to change its behavior despite the new spirit of openness.

“We believe the best way to try to push this forward is for the president to go,” said Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser and the White House’s point man on Cuba, arguing that Cuba had been in many ways unprepared to engage with the United States.

“The way to carry this policy forward is to keep leaning forward,” Mr. Rhodes said. “It’s not a quid pro quo, but we would like the trip to show concrete progress in normalization, so it’s an opportunity to demonstrate results.”

Mr. Obama, who will be accompanied by his wife, Michelle, plans to meet with political dissidents in addition to Mr. Castro. But he does not intend to see Fidel Castro, the architect of the 1959 revolution that led to the rupture with the United States.

The trip, planned for March 21-22, drew denunciations from critics in both parties of Mr. Obama’s Cuba policy, many of them Cuban-Americans who have long opposed any engagement with the Castro government.

“To this day, we have not seen one substantial step toward transparent democratic elections, improved human rights, freedom of assembly, or the ability to form independent political parties and trade unions in Cuba,” said Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. “Despite the lack of reciprocity from a despotic and reinvigorated Castro regime, our president is rewarding this oppressive regime with a visit.”

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican presidential candidate, released a letter to Mr. Obama urging him to reconsider the trip.

“Having an American president go to Cuba simply for the sake of going there, without the United States getting anything in return, is both counterproductive and damaging to our national security interests,” Mr. Rubio wrote. “You will send the message to the oppressed Cuban people that you stand with their oppressors.”

But the planned visit was met with jubilation from lawmakers who have begun pressing to repeal the embargo against Cuba.

“For Cubans accustomed to watching their government sputter down the last mile of socialism in a ’57 Chevy, imagine what they’ll think when they see Air Force One ,” said Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona.

Mr. Obama has used his executive power to forge closer ties with Cuba in the face of continued resistance in Congress to lifting the embargo. The two governments opened their long-shuttered embassies in Washington and Havana last summer, and the Commerce and Treasury Departments have issued several rounds of regulatory changes that essentially poke holes in what Cubans derisively refer to as the “blockade.”

American officials traveled to Havana on Tuesday to sign a pact that will for the first time in decades allow scheduled commercial flights between the United States and Cuba. And Cuban officials are in Washington this week for a round of talks aimed at expanding business ties.

The presidential trip had been under discussion for months, and Mr. Obama had made little secret of his eagerness to visit Cuba. But officials had said they wanted to see concrete progress toward normalization before promising that the president would make the journey.

On Thursday, Mr. Rhodes said Mr. Obama had ultimately concluded that it was better to make the trip early in the year, when he still had the time to make progress toward normalization before his term ends.

“Given the choice between going in December, when, frankly, it would just kind of be a vacation down to Cuba, or going now and trying to get some business done, we believe that the time is right to go and lean in and try to get as much done on this trip as we can,” Mr. Rhodes said.

The president, for one, is excited. “It will be fun,” he told reporters in a brief exchange at the White House on Thursday.

Mr. Obama will be the first president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge went in 1928. The president also plans to use the trip to highlight his efforts to foster closer ties with the rest of Latin America. After Cuba, he will travel to Argentina to visit Mauricio Macri, the new president, who has said he wants to improve relations with the United States after an era of strain.

Follow the New York Times’s politics and Washington coverage on Facebook and Twitter , and sign up for the First Draft politics newsletter .

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President Obama’s visit to Cuba represents the culmination of his efforts to re-establish ties with the island nation, according to Harvard scholars.

Photo by Olivier Douliery/Sipa USA

Obama in Havana

Harvard Staff Writer

As president’s tenure wanes, visit allows him to cement policies

President Barack Obama arrives in Cuba on Sunday for a historic three-day visit — the first sitting U.S. president to travel there in nearly 90 years. The trip marks a major step toward normalizing diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, which were severed in 1961 during the Cold War era, after Fidel Castro took power and established the first communist regime in the Western Hemisphere.

The visit, a mix of politics and culture, will include a bilateral meeting with Cuban President Raúl Castro, Fidel’s brother, at the Palace of the Revolution, a baseball game, interviews with entrepreneurs and citizens, and a speech by Obama to the Cuban people. First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha are accompanying Obama.

The journey, Harvard scholars say, represents the culmination of Obama’s efforts to re-establish ties with Cuba that began in late 2014 when he announced his commitment to chart a “new course” for U.S.-Cuban relations. As part of this process, he ordered the reopening of the American embassy in Havana, ruled in favor of easing travel and fiscal restrictions, and allowed more daily flights.

In interviews, Harvard analysts praised Obama for charting a fresh beginning in U.S.-Cuban relations and called his endeavors to restore normality long overdue, but they also expressed concern about the real impact of the shift on the everyday lives of Cubans.

For Kirsten Weld , assistant professor of history, the trip is a recognition of the failure of the U.S. policy of economic sanctions against Cuba, a policy that has remained in place for more than 50 years.

“It’s an acknowledgment that the past half-century of punitive, coercive U.S. policy toward Cuba, having failed to produce the regime change U.S. policymakers have so long desired, is futile and obsolete,” said Weld via email.

Weld worries that the shift in strategy in U.S. policy from isolation to engagement is a demonstration that the United States continues to try to exert a disproportionate influence over domestic Cuban affairs, and wonders about its legacy locally.

“It remains uncertain,” she said. “The economic embargo, for example, remains solidly in place, and until it is lifted, daily life for Cubans will continue to be inordinately difficult.”

Merilee Grindle, Edward S. Mason Professor of International Development Emerita , Harvard Kennedy School , said Obama’s visit serves as a “symbolic closure of an unfortunate legacy of the Cold War.”

The trip is more than symbolic for Jorge Domínguez , Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico in the Department of Government, chair of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies , and a member of the executive committee of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

“The president has practical objectives in mind,” said Domínguez. “One of the topics I’d imagine Obama will address in his meeting with Castro is the significant influence that Cuba has on Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia, because what Cuba will or will not use its influence for matters to the United States.”

The trip is also imbued with a sense of urgency, said Domínguez, because Obama is in the last months of his administration, and with the U.S. presidential elections in some turmoil, Obama likely feels pressed to make sure his legacy lives on.

“I think he also wants to say to Raúl Castro, eye to eye, ‘Look, I just have until next January to try to make sure that changes get enacted and consolidated. We cannot foresee who is the next president of the United States, and if we act now, we may be able to make these changes irreversible,’ ” said Domínguez.

Still, Obama’s trip is filled with rich symbolism for Cubans and Americans, he said. For Cubans, it will send a message that it’s up to Cubans to put pressure on their government to make more changes. As of now, the U.S. government has initiated many policy shifts, and Cuba has passively accepted them. A recent example is the restoration of direct mail between the two nations.

For Americans, the implication is that there is no turning back from increased ties.

“The message is that this train has left the station,” Domínguez said, “and whoever is the next president of the United States should run with it.”

The re-establishment of diplomatic relations will bring benefits to both countries, said Brian Farrell, director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies , professor of biology, and curator of entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

“It will be a mutually enriching exchange,” Farrell said. “We have so much to learn from Cuba in science, the medical area, and health care.”

But the greatest benefit will be in people-to-people exchange, he said.

“Cubans and Americans have been estranged family members,” Farrell said. “This is an extraordinary moment to be able to get to know each other, in the same way our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, have been doing it. Canadians, Mexicans, and Europeans have had uninterrupted access and exchange with Cubans. It’s going to be a great reunion.”

Harvard undergraduates recently visited Cuba through the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies study abroad program.

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Obama's address to Cuban people will be highlight of historic visit

Entire first family will travel with president for trip including a baseball game, a summit with Raúl Castro and a speech calling for civil rights improvements

Barack Obama will make a historic address to the Cuban people, calling for more freedom but stressing that the US is no longer seeking regime change on the island, according to the White House.

This first speech on Cuban soil by a US president in almost 90 years will be the highlight of a three-day trip that also includes a bilateral summit with Raúl Castro , a joint news conference, a private meeting with dissidents, a baseball game and a moment to pay homage to the Catholic church for helping broker talks that led to the opening of relations in September.

Obama, who will travel with his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha, will be the first US president to visit Havana since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

The trip is the culmination of a process that began with a historic joint announcement on 17 December 2014 when the leaders came together to signal their intention to begin dismantling the cold war-era embargo.

US officials are hopeful that Obama’s speech next Tuesday will be broadcast live on Cuban national television but have not yet been provided any guarantees of this.

Obama will be under pressure to demonstrate that his decision to open relations is helping to encourage political reforms. He met this week with prominent Cuban Americans to listen to their hopes and concerns about the visit. He is also taking a number of corporate leaders with him on a trip that is expected to mark a bonanza for US business and the start of up to 50 direct flights a day between the two countries.

Obama is expected to use his speech to call for civil rights improvements, but he will signal that the US no longer seeks to oust the Castro regime.

White House national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the US administration hoped the trip would “make the process of normalization permanent and irreversible” before Obama leaves office next January but also lead to a speeding up of reform on the Cuban side.

“We recognise this speech is very important to the Cuban people – as important as anything he is doing while he is there,” added Rhodes. “He will want to acknowledge the complicated history between our two countries.”

Obama will not be seeking to “dictate outcomes” however, said the White House, acknowledging that past calls for democracy had sounding like attempts at “regime change”.

“We believe that by opening up space we can help empower the Cuban people to live better lives.”

The Obamas will arrive on Sunday night and travel to the Cathedral in Old Havana to meet with Cardinal Ortega, the archbishop of Havana, who was instrumental along with Pope Francis in helping forge the 17 December agreement to begin to normalise relations between the two countries.

The cold war embargo between the US and Cuba had been in place since 1962 and the Cuban missile crisis during the presidency of John F Kennedy.

On Monday, the official programme begins with a wreath laying ceremony at the Jose Marti (CORR) Memorial, the monument to one of the heroes of the failed Cuban revolution of the late 19th century.

After that Obama will have face to face talks with President Castro, a meeting billed as “an opportunity to review progress made”, areas of agreement and areas of disagreement – including US concerns over Cuba’s human rights record. A joint press conference will follow Monday’s meeting.

One of the key themes of the trip will be the effort to improve standards of living for Cuban people.

Obama will also attend a meeting with Cuban entrepreneurs at a session with American business leaders and Cuban-Americans who are joining the visit.

On Monday night, the Obama’s will be guests at a state dinner at the Revolutionary Palace.

On Tuesday morning, Obama will deliver his historic speech to the Cuban people. “This speech will be a very important moment in the president’s trip … an opportunity for him to describe the course that we are on, to review the complex history between our countries and the rationale behind the steps we took,” Rhodes said, calling it “a huge moment in the history between our countries, the first visit of a US president in nearly 90 years, certainly the first speech given by a president in Cuba in nearly 90 years”.

Obama also promises to meet with opposition figures as well as Cuban government officials.

On Monday afternoon he will attend a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team.

Michelle Obama will visit high school age girls in Havana and will meet with female Cuban students, some of whom have studied in the US. She will be bringing questions from US students who are interested about life in Cuba.

• US foreign policy
• Raúl Castro
• Barack Obama

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The Road to Havana

Nelson Mandela’s funeral opened the way for Obama’s historic Cuba visit.

On Sunday, President Obama will begin his historic visit to Cuba. He will be the first president since Calvin Coolidge to visit the island, and his mission is a prime manifestation of what some people—not me, necessarily—might call the “ Obama Doctrine .” Obama has been remarkably consistent over the years in questioning why adversaries of the United States have remained adversaries, and in Cuba, at least, he has an answer: They don’t have to be adversaries, at least not all of them. (The chance of an Obama victory lap in Tehran appears at the moment to be vanishingly small, despite the nuclear agreement.)

Over the years, Obama has been criticized steadily for “apologizing” on behalf of the United States for its various alleged misdeeds in other countries. As he told me in one of my recent interviews with him, “We have history. We have history in Iran, we have history in Indonesia and Central America. So we have to be mindful of our history when we start talking about intervening, and understand the source of other people’s suspicions.”

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Obama clearly believes that acknowledging the complicated history between the United States and certain developing-world countries is a prerequisite for better relations (the jury is out, I believe, on whether this is, generally speaking, an effective tactic, or more just a trolling of the American right). Though he did not name Cuba in this list of countries that have been wronged by past American policy, it is entirely plausible he considers at least some of that country’s claims legitimate, such as those regarding U.S. support for the Batista regime, which was overthrown by Fidel Castro and his guerrilla army, and for the Bay of Pigs invasion and other regime-changing schemes.

I mention this because in a recent conversation, Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national-security adviser, foreign-policy amanuensis, and secret Cuba envoy, mentioned that it was Obama’s respectful treatment of Raul Castro, Fidel’s brother and the current president, at the December, 2013 funeral of Nelson Mandela, that may have helped the then-nascent, and then-unpromising, negotiations with Cuba turn a corner. “We had been in negotiations with the Cubans secretly for about six months at that time and hadn’t really gotten anywhere,” Rhodes said, explaining that Cuban suspicions of American intentions were almost overwhelming. “We were mainly talking about their desire to recover several Cuban prisoners in the United States and Florida—the remaining members of the Cuban Five—and our desire to return [USAID contractor] Alan Gross to the United States, but we wanted a bigger package. We wanted to use the exchange of some prisoners as an entry point to changing the relationship.”

Mandela’s funeral provided the White House with the opportunity to change the tenor of the talks. “The president was going to the funeral of Nelson Mandela—his personal hero—and I remember on the plane to South Africa I raised with him—we had a list of the leaders who were going to be up on the dais where he’d be speaking—and one was Raul Castro, and I said, ‘Look, inevitably it is going to come up as to whether or not you shake his hand.’”

Obama’s response was not necessarily the response of a typical American president. According to Rhodes, Obama said, “‘Look, the Cubans, given their history with Mandela, with the ANC, they have a place at this event, and I’m not going to, essentially, cause an uncomfortable situation for the Mandela family, for the South African people, by snubbing the president of Cuba who has a right to be on that dais.’” The Cubans were early and ardent supporters of Mandela’s African National Congress party, and were also deeply engaged militarily across southern Africa. I asked Rhodes what “right” he was referring to. He said, “Well, look, whatever you think of the Cuban government, they supported the anti-apartheid movement; they fought side-by-side with the ANC; the Castros had a relationship with Mandela. And this is the president’s hero and he doesn’t want to cause an incident at his memorial service by carrying forward this dispute between the United States and Cuba, so he shook Raul Castro’s hand.”

Castro, Rhodes said, was a bit surprised, and perhaps somewhat moved. “What was interesting was, in our subsequent meetings with the Cubans, the atmosphere changed a bit, and the first thing they said to me in the next meeting was how much President Castro appreciated that President Obama had done that, and it kind of established a tone where they understood they were dealing with a different American president—one who is willing to leave the history in the past and actually try to get something done.”

My conversation with Rhodes about Cuba (part of which you can watch below; the full version is here ) continues below. I’ve edited the transcript for concision and clarity.

Jeffrey Goldberg : You know, the small irony here is that the president, President Obama, is known as a cool, transactional kind of foreign-policy president, but here you’re saying there was an actual kind of personal-connection moment.

Ben Rhodes : Well, what’s interesting is that the emotion was on the Cuban side. You know, the Cubans have so much built-up, pent-up history with the United States, and in that one small gesture I think President Obama indicated that we can have discussions based upon a sense of mutual respect, and that there is a place for Cuba at an event like that—the memorial service for Mandela—and again, that kind of opened up the space in our negotiations where they felt like they were dealing with a different American president.

Goldberg : Since we opened the door here, the president has an unusual understanding—unusual compared to previous presidents, let’s say—of American culpability in certain parts of the world—Indonesia he’s brought up with me, obviously, Iran and Mossadegh. It sounds as if you’re saying that he almost endorses the help Cuba gave to the ANC in the ’70s and ’80s. Is that fair, or am I taking that too far?

Rhodes : Well, I think there’s complexity to it. He doesn’t endorse the political system of Cuba or the human-rights practices of the Castro government, but at the same time, he can see shades of gray in history. We had used the black-and-white version of history to justify Cuba policy that didn’t make much sense; that was far past its expiration date. I think that he had enough of an understanding of history to know that whatever we think about the Cuban government’s political system and human-rights practices that, in fact, when it came to the anti-apartheid movement, they had a place on that dais at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, and he was not going to, essentially, disrespect the legacy of Nelson Mandela by carrying forward that history and snubbing the Cuban president because of our bilateral relationship.

Goldberg : In broader terms, give me the theory of Obama’s case on Cuba. I wrote that he has an unusual willingness to question the assumptions that go into bilateral relations with various countries, and the assumption that he was questioning in the Cuba relationship was, “Why does it have to be this way?” But what’s the larger theory of the case?

Rhodes : I think there are three things. One is, America sometimes makes itself a prisoner of our own history. We have a very complicated history with Cuba. We’ve had significant historical differences with Cuba. But that alone can’t be the rationale for continuing a policy that’s not working. That leads to the second point, which is, he has a deeply pragmatic streak. If you just looked at our Cuba policy in isolation coming into office—it’s not working. The embargo is not working—it’s not doing anything except punishing the Cuban people. The Castro government is still firmly entrenched in power, and the Cuban people are suffering. And the third point is, you take those two facts and you say, “This is holding us back in the hemisphere and in the world, because of our history, because of our unwillingness to look at a failed policy and change course, we essentially have an anchor on American standing in Latin America and, in some cases, in the rest of the world. And why not cut that loose and open up the door to greater opportunities?”

Goldberg : I want to come back to that, but one of the things that you didn't mention was a notion that by opening Cuba, you’ll change Cuba, particularly on human-rights issues and democratization issues. Is that not a priority of the president?

Rhodes : It’s absolutely a priority. There are two openings here. One is to Cuba, and we believe that the Cuban people are suffering under the embargo—that the Cuban government is very comfortable in a situation where we’re just seeking to isolate them, pressure them, support a number of actors inside of Cuba but not reach out to the whole Cuban people. By opening up travel, by opening up commerce, you’re going to empower the Cuban people. They’re going to get more resources; they're going to have more interconnectivity to the rest of the world. This over time has a greater chance of improving the human-rights circumstances in Cuba than isolation and pressure.

The second point is about Latin America. When we came into office, the wind was at the back of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales and the anti-American forces, the ALBA movement in Latin America, in part because we played to type—we played exactly into the type that they wanted, which is the Americans coming and telling people who should run their countries, the Americans are throwing their weight around in the region in ways that fed this ideological dispute. By removing ourselves from that conversation, we remove a rationale for those anti-American leaders. And in fact you’ve seen just in the last several months elections in Argentina, in which the anti-American president Cristina Kirchner was replaced by a very pro-American president, President [Mauricio] Macri, who we’ll be visiting after Cuba, and you’ve seen Evo Morales lose a referendum in Bolivia. I’m not saying there’s a direct causal effect to our policies, but it is indisputable that we have removed ourselves essentially as a justifying force for those leaders in the region who have a politics that is rooted in anti-Americanism.

Goldberg : It’s an issue of great controversy, shortly before this historic first trip by the president to Cuba, about whether he’s even going to see human-rights dissidents, political dissidents. Can you give us a little bit of where the thinking is there, and would you be satisfied to go to Cuba and not meet political dissidents? Are you strengthening inadvertently the hand of a single-party state and its repressive system?

Rhodes : So first of all, we will see dissidents. We’ve made clear to the Cuban government that we see who we want to see in other countries.

Goldberg : There's been pushback from the Cubans, though. Is that fair?

Rhodes : Not on the president, no. I think they know, because we laid down the marker at the very beginning that we’d be seeing dissidents on this trip. But the second, and more important point is, we utterly reject this notion that there’s only one way to promote democracy and human rights. There are a group of people, I think, in the United States who say, “The only way to demonstrate that you care about human rights in Cuba is to criticize the regime, isolate the regime, and only try to engage with dissidents.” We don’t think that works. We care just as much about human rights and democracy as those people, but the fact of the matter is, we don’t think doing something that’s not working is the way to go about promoting democracy and human rights. We think we’re going to be better positioned to do it through engagement. Just one small example is having an embassy. This has been treated as some kind of concession, to have an embassy set up in Cuba. The fact is, having an embassy in Cuba allows us to have more contact with the Cuban people, whether it’s dissidents, civil society, entrepreneurs, and others. So we believe that this is a better way, through engagement, of advancing the things that we care about.

Goldberg : Frame this out in terms of Asia, because the theory applied to Asia doesn’t seem to work so far in the following sense: We have massive business with China, obviously, but China is not a free country by any means. Vietnam is another example of a country that we’ve had very, very good commercial ties and political ties now, but there’s not a lot of evidence to suggest that that exposure to American businesses, American tourists has loosened up the system. What makes you think that Cuba could be any different?

Rhodes : Because the context is entirely different. Asia is thousands of miles away. Cuba is 90 miles from Florida. I’ve talked to Cuban Americans all the time, including Cuban Americans who supported the embargo for many years and who will tell you, whether it’s a Carlos Gutierrez or Mike Fernandez, significant figures in the Republican Party who have said to me, “Look, I supported the embargo. I thought it was the appropriate policy for a long time. But Cuba is going to change and we need to be a part of that change.” And if we’re not engaging Cuba, we won’t be a part of that change. And the fact of the matter is, if you have that level of commerce, that level of travel, that interconnectivity between the United States and Cuba, and between Cuban Americans and Cubans on the island, I think it’s going to be a much greater level of engagement than we would have with a China or a Vietnam that is so far away from the United States, so culturally removed from the United States. We do believe that as this opens up, and as you have greater access to information, greater access to travel, greater access to the international community, to the United States, the Cuban people are going to be in a better position to determine their own future.

Goldberg : It almost sounds as if you’re saying that Cuba will not be able to withstand the weight of American openness on their system, meaning, when you have thousands of Americans staying in Airbnb properties in Cuba and Internet access and Miami television coming in, that the system is inevitably going to change that way. Is that fair to say that the president believes that over time—five, 10, 15 years—we’re going to see a very different Cuba because that weight is going to be pressing down on the country?

Rhodes : Well look, let me begin by saying, we’ve made clear that we’re not in this for regime change. We’re not seeking to impose a new leadership on Cuba. We’re not going to choose who the leaders of Cuba are. That’s for the Cuban people to decide. But the fact of the matter is, if Cuba is opening up, if you have that degree of interconnectivity, if Cubans can access more information, they will be in a much stronger position to make decisions about their own future. They will have much greater control over their own livelihoods if there’s increased commerce, if there’s increase entrepreneurship in Cuba. So yes, we do believe that as this opens up, and as you have greater access to information, greater access to travel, greater access to the international community, to the United States, the Cuban people are going to be in a better position to determine their own future.

Goldberg : Do you believe that the Miami Cubans will come back into play as a powerful force in Havana, and is that something that you want?

Rhodes : Well, what’s interesting is I think there’s been an evolution among many of the Miami Cubans, which, again, I think it used to be kind of viewed through a zero-sum window: Either the Castros are running Cuba or there’s certain people in Miami who are waiting to go back and run Cuba. I think that was kind of the binary view of some in this situation. I think what you’re seeing now is, there’s a recognition in both Cuba and in the Cuban American community, including in Miami, that Cuba is changing. Raul Castro has set in motion a series of reforms that are evolving the economic model; there’s going to be a political transition—Raul Castro said he’s going to leave power; and that there’s an acceptance that this can be evolutionary change—that it need not be the type of regime-change effort that the United States would have supported in the past, but rather if you have Cuban Americans who are getting more engaged in the affairs of the island and the economy of the island, who are rebuilding bridges to their own families and friends on the island, that ultimately that is going to help serve for a more stable evolution of Cuba that is going to improve the lives of the Cuban people and, ultimately, I think, reconcile the Cuban American community with the island.

Goldberg : So this is a third way, you think?

Rhodes : I think it’s a third way, absolutely.

Goldberg : Let me ask you one very specific question on Cuba. It’s specific, but I think it concerns a lot of Americans, which is, it’s the flipside of this—the fear that the inundation of American business, the fear that the flood of money and tourists will actually change Cuba, make it more like the rest of the Caribbean, where you’re going to have in five years McDonald’s in the squares of old Havana. Is that something that you’ve picked up from the Cuban side is of great concern to them? I mean, what are they doing to try and manage that process, and is it actually a care of the administration, or does this administration say, “Great, the more American businesses the better?”

Rhodes : Well, you know, I think first of all there is something unique about Cuba, that is informed by history but also informed by the nature of the place, that has captured the imagination of the American people and the world.

Goldberg : Well it’s been frozen in amber.

Rhodes : Yes. I mean, on a very practical level, I think the Cubans have plans to try to preserve their heritage, to preserve old Havana, to try to develop incrementally when it comes to their tourism sector in a way that doesn’t transform the island into just another tourist destination. So part of that is just going to be how do they manage development. But another piece of this, and this is very important: As we’ve been talking to American companies, and as we’ve been thinking about our own policy changes, we very much want to encourage industries other than just the travel industry to get engaged in Cuba. Our technology and telecommunications companies to help bring advanced technology and access to information to Cuba.

Goldberg : So Alan Gross was just five years too early.

Rhodes : Well, but, and here’s the important thing about Alan Gross, and I think Alan himself would probably subscribe to this view—this is a good example of why what we’re doing doesn't make sense. We used to have a policy where we have an embargo in place, and then we try to bring cell phones into Cuba, and we try to bring printers into Cuba, and give those to dissidents. What’s a more efficient way of promoting access to information—shipping a bunch of cell phones to Cuba, and computers to Cuba, and try and hand them out to people surreptitiously, or just lifting restrictions so that cell-phone technology can go to Cuba, cell phones can go to Cuba? If you want to connect Cuba, lift the embargo. Don’t try to, you know, smuggle some phones down there and hand them out.

Goldberg : Let’s talk foreign-policy theory. My theory of the case—you don’t have to subscribe to it—is that Burma was in some way practice for Cuba—opening up a closed society. So the question is, is what you’re doing in Cuba—do you think it has any relevance to America’s relationship with Iran, which is obviously a whole other category of traditional adversary? Are there lessons that can be applied to that, or is that just Pollyannaish thinking?

Rhodes : Well there’s two things. You know, one is, one commonality between the Iran deal and the Cuba opening is, in the president’s judgment, the approach we were taking wasn’t working—Iran was advancing its nuclear capability, the Cuban regime was firmly in power—and we can test whether another approach works without giving anything up. With respect to the Iranian nuclear deal, we were able to test whether Iran can comply with this deal over an extended period of time, and if they don’t we can re-impose our sanctions. We give up none of our capabilities, just as with Cuba—we're not giving anything up by having an embassy, by having diplomatic relations, and we can test whether that’s a better policy or not.

Goldberg : But in the meantime though, it’s fair to say that the Iranian regime is less on its backfoot right now because the money that’s been released—I mean, it’s their money but it was frozen in our accounts—the money has helped buttress that regime. You maintain your ultimate military capabilities, but your economic leverage is less today over Iran than it was a year-and-a-half, two years ago when the sanctions were really crippling their economy, no?

Rhodes : Well, with respect to Cuba, again I think they’ve found ways to survive in very difficult economic circumstances, so we don’t think economic pressure was a driver of political change there. With respect to Iran, they get that sanctions relief if they abide by the terms of the deal, and we think that’s a good deal for us. An Iran without a nuclear weapon, we can verify they’re not getting a nuclear weapon, is worth giving them that sanctions relief. But we can turn it back on, the sanctions, if they violate the deal. You know, the difference, the important difference with Cuba, is the Cubans took a leap in reestablishing diplomatic relations with us and saying they’re going to normalize relations. They had existed in an anti-American space where they justified their regime in some ways in opposition to the United States. They’re now doing something very different.

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Obama arrives in Havana for historic visit to former Cold War foe

By Matt Spetalnick, Daniel Trotta, Jeff Mason and Frank Jack Daniel HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama arrived in Cuba on Sunday on a historic visit, opening a new chapter in U.S. engagement with the island's Communist government after decades of animosity between the former Cold War foes. Obama landed at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport aboard Air Force One, the presidential jet with "United States of America" emblazoned across its fuselage, a sight almost unimaginable not long ago. Stepping down onto the red carpet in a light drizzle, Obama and his family were greeted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the top Cuban official present. The formal welcoming ceremony will be on Monday when Obama meets Cuban President Raul Castro at the presidential palace. The three-day trip, the first by a U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years, is the culmination of a diplomatic opening announced by Obama and Castro in December 2014, ending a Cold War-era estrangement that began when the Cuban revolution ousted a pro-American government in 1959. Obama, who abandoned a longtime U.S. policy of trying to isolate Cuba, wants to make his shift irreversible. But major obstacles remain to full normalization of ties, and the Democratic president's critics at home say the visit is premature. Underscoring the ideological divide that persists between Washington and Havana, Cuban police, backed by hundreds of pro-government demonstrators, broke up the regular march of a leading dissident group, the Ladies in White, detaining about 50 people just hours before Obama arrived. Traveling with first lady Michelle Obama, her mother and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, the president met first with staff of the newly reopened U.S. Embassy at a Havana hotel. The Obamas then took in the sights of Old Havana, drawing cheers from small crowds of Cubans and foreign tourists. Obama was also hosted on a tour of Havana's 18th century cathedral by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who played a key role in secret talks that led to the rapprochement 15 months ago. “It's a historic opportunity to engage directly with the Cuban people," Obama told U.S. diplomats. U.S. officials appeared unfazed by Castro’s absence from the airport welcome, even though he personally met and greeted Pope Francis in September. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump tweeted that Obama’s visit was a “big deal” but that he got “no respect.” Obama will hold talks with Raul Castro – but not his brother Fidel, the revolutionary leader - and speak to entrepreneurs on Monday. He meets privately with dissidents, addresses Cubans live on state-run media and attends an exhibition baseball game on Tuesday. SYMBOLISM AND SUBSTANCE The trip carries both symbolism and substance after decades of hostility between Washington and Havana. It makes Obama the first sitting American president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge arrived on a battleship in 1928. It is also another major step in chipping away at remaining barriers to U.S.-Cuba trade and travel and developing more normal relations between Washington and Havana. Since rapprochement, the two sides have restored diplomatic ties and signed commercial deals on telecommunications and scheduled airline service. Major differences remain, notably the 54-year-old economic embargo of Cuba. Obama has asked Congress to rescind it, but the move has been blocked by the Republican leadership. But welcome signs with images of Obama alongside Raul Castro popped up in colonial Old Havana. Obama has used executive authority to loosen trade and travel restrictions to advance his outreach to Cuba, one of his top foreign policy priorities along with the Iran nuclear deal. But Cuba still complains about U.S. control of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay under a 1934 lease agreement that Havana says is no longer valid and that Obama has said is not up for discussion. Havana is also unhappy with U.S. support for dissidents and anti-communist radio and TV programs beamed into Cuba. Speaking to reporters, Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment minister Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz said Obama's regulatory moves "go in the right direction." But he added: "We can’t reach a normalization of relations with the blockade still in effect and without resolving other themes of high importance." 'QUE BOLA CUBA?' The Americans in turn criticize one-party rule and repression of political opponents, an issue that aides said Obama would address publicly and privately. The Ladies in White and their male supporters protested after a Palm Sunday service and were pulled into police vans after they sat down to block a street. A similar scene plays out every Sunday, but this time it was more intense than usual. The government dismisses the dissidents, who are funded by U.S. interests, as mercenaries seeking to destabilize the country. Obama's critics at home accuse him of making too many concessions for too little in return from the Cuban government and of using his trip to take an unearned "victory lap." But Obama's more practical goal is to do everything he can to make sure his Cuba engagement cannot be rolled back, even if a Republican wins the White House in the Nov. 8 election. Although general U.S. tourism to the island is still officially banned under the embargo, a sign of changing times was the presence of groups of U.S. travelers marveling at the vintage American cars rumbling through the streets. Obama’s first words to the Cuban people came in a message on Twitter, a social media service that few Cubans can use regularly because of government restrictions on Internet access. “Que bola Cuba?” he said, using Cuban slang for “what’s up?” “Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.” Little progress on the main issues is expected when Obama and Castro meet on Monday or at a state dinner that evening. Instead, the highlights are likely to be Obama's speech on live Cuban television on Tuesday, when he will also meet dissidents and attend an exhibition baseball game between Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba's national team. Underlining Obama’s political challenge at home, the office of U.S. Representative Ed Royce, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the president’s policy "has only served to prop up the communist Castro regime.” (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason aboard Air Force One, and Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta in Havana; Editing by Mary Milliken, Alan Crosby and Peter Cooney)

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A virtual museum of his presidency

Through a collection of deeply reported stories, videos, photographs, documents and graphics, experience Barack Obama’s historic time in office: as the first black president , as commander in chief , as a domestic and foreign policymaker, and as a husband and father .

Continue to the gallery of stories or keep reading: How Obama’s trip to Havana finally ended the Cold War .

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How Obama’s trip to Havana finally ended the Cold War

On the day that President Obama was to arrive in Cuba in March 2016, Alberto Moreno stood outside his open front door in the unreconstructed part of Old Havana, a neighborhood where crumbling, faded buildings abut narrow streets, and the thick, hot air smells of dust, sweat and cooking.

“People always think Cuba is the worst country in the world,” said Moreno, a 30-something cook at a local brewery. “They think they’re going to see military people with rifles everywhere. But look around,” he said, motioning at the Sunday morning scene of chatting neighbors and sleepy pedicab drivers waiting for customers.

What Obama was going to experience in Cuba, Moreno asserted with no small amount of national pride, was “tranquility and calm,” and people jostling for a look at him and shouting, “Obama, Obama, Obama, just like it is in every other country” he visits.

And so it was. During Obama’s 2 1 / 2 -day trip to the Cuban capital, those Habaneros, as residents of Havana call themselves, who crossed paths with the president ogled and shouted, while the rest went about their business.

But few Cubans were oblivious to the history being made. In the space of 15 short months, from the first announcement of normalization in December 2014 to the presidential visit, the official hostility that had defined U.S.-Cuba relations for more than half a century was over. Diplomatic relations were reestablished, nascent business ties were forged, and regularly scheduled American planes full of American visitors were about to descend.

In meetings with Cuban entrepreneurs and students, and a news conference and speech broadcast live on national television, the U.S. president smiled broadly and spoke of freedom and friendship, presenting a stark and vibrant contrast to Cuba’s dour communist leaders.

As Obama prepared to leave office, it was clear that the long-term objectives he set for the opening would not be achieved during his presidency. Although there has been some minor movement, state control over Cuban political life and over most aspects of the economy remains firmly in place. Arrests continue for dissent and free expression.

Still, the building of a diplomatic bridge across the 90 miles of open sea between Florida and the Cuban shore was a signature achievement, at least one successful item on Obama’s original presidential bucket list that no future administration is likely to reverse.

Although Obama has used his executive powers to ease trade, travel and other restrictions, only Congress can remove the remaining embargo and U.S. travel limits on Cuba. Bills calling for both have steadily gained sponsors.

But “the fact of the matter is that the American people and the Cuban people overwhelmingly want this to happen,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said last summer. “Frankly, whatever the political realities in either country, for somebody to try to turn this off, they would have to be working against the overwhelming desires of their own people.

“That ship has sailed,” Rhodes said.

When Obama first proposed talking to the leaders of America’s most ardent adversaries, during a Democratic primary debate in 2007, he shocked Republicans and Democrats. “The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them . . . is ridiculous,” he replied when asked whether he was willing to meet with rulers of places such as Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Presidents of both parties, he pointed out, had maintained dialogue with the Soviet Union during the darkest days of the Cold War.

His comments caused “one of the first big hubbubs in my Presidential campaign” and sent shivers down the spines of aides who feared he would lose the important Cuban-American vote in Florida, Obama recalled in a recent interview with the New Yorker.

But his theory, Obama said, was that “Cuba is a tiny, poor country that poses no genuine threat to the United States.” At the same time, in terms of promoting change on the island, “in this era of the Internet and global capital movements . . . openness is a more powerful change agent than isolation.” Finally, Obama said he concluded, “if you are interested in promoting freedom, independence, civic space inside of Cuba,” things such as allowing money to be sent to Cubans would allow more individuals the wherewithal to build a future apart from government control.

Obama won Florida in the 2008 election and quickly used his presidential authority to lift restrictions on remittances and Cuban American travel to the island. Over the next several years, the administration chipped away at the embargo. But it was not until after he was elected to a second term that Obama set his sights on normalizing relations and assigned Rhodes to open secret negotiations with a willing government in Havana.

The Cuba dialogue went far more smoothly than concurrent negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. The Iran talks, during years of publicly announced meetings, were multilateral — with the administration having to deal not only with a recalcitrant Tehran but with its own negotiating partners, including Russia, China and European powers.

And because no one knew they were taking place — even the State Department was kept in the dark until nearly the end — negotiations with Cuba were shielded from the domestic political pressures that could have derailed them.

It turned out to be one of the administration’s best-kept secrets. Public announcements by Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro on Dec. 17, 2014, astounded both nations. Although some in Congress denounced it as a capitulation to the repressive Cuban government, most appeared to agree with Obama’s observation that decades of antagonism had changed nothing on the island and that it was time to give a new policy a chance.

“Like so many people in both of our countries,” he said in his televised speech in Havana on March 22, 2016, “my lifetime has spanned a time of isolation between us. The Cuban Revolution took place the same year that my father came to the United States from Kenya. The Bay of Pigs took place the year that I was born. The next year, the entire world held its breath, watching our two countries, as humanity came as close as we ever have to the horror of nuclear war.

“As the decades rolled by, our governments settled into a seemingly endless confrontation, fighting battles through proxies. In a world that remade itself time and again, one constant was the conflict between the United States and Cuba.”

Differences remained, Obama cautioned, and the two countries continued to be divided on their systems of government, their economic models and their ideas about individual rights.

But “I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas,” he said. “I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people.”

This story is part of a virtual museum of President Barack Obama’s presidency. In five parts — The First Black President , Commander in Chief , Obama’s America , Obama and the World and The First Family — we explore the triumphs and travails of his historic tenure.

• A hopeful moment on race
• A soliloquy in Philadelphia
• The beer summit
• The other trailblazers
• On a bridge in Selma
• In his own words
• The backlash
• A new aesthetic
• Kids on Obama
• Crime, justice and race
• Obama in Africa
• The Obama electorate
• Your Obama presidency

Barack Obama’s watershed 2008 election and the presidency that followed profoundly altered the aesthetics of American democracy, transforming the Founding Fathers’ narrow vision of politics and citizenship into something more expansive and more elegant. The American presidency suddenly looked very different, and for a moment America felt different, too.

The Obama victory helped fulfill one of the great ambitions of the civil rights struggle by showcasing the ability of extraordinarily talented black Americans to lead and excel in all facets of American life. First lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Sasha and Malia, extended this reimagining of black American life by providing a conspicuous vision of a healthy, loving and thriving African American family that defies still-prevalent racist stereotypes.

But some interpreted Obama’s triumph as much more.

The victory was heralded as the arrival of a “post-racial” America, one in which the nation’s original sin of racial slavery and post-Reconstruction Jim Crow discrimination had finally been absolved by the election of a black man as commander in chief. For a while, the nation basked in a racially harmonious afterglow.

A black president would influence generations of young children to embrace a new vision of American citizenship. The “Obama Coalition” of African American, white, Latino, Asian American and Native American voters had helped usher in an era in which institutional racism and pervasive inequality would fade as Americans embraced the nation’s multicultural promise.

Seven years later, such profound optimism seems misplaced. Almost immediately, the Obama presidency unleashed racial furies that have only multiplied over time. From the tea party’s racially tinged attacks on the president’s policy agenda to the “birther” movement’s more overtly racist fantasies asserting that Obama was not even an American citizen, the national racial climate grew more, and not less, fraught.

If racial conflict, in the form of birthers, tea partyers and gnawing resentments, implicitly shadowed Obama’s first term, it erupted into open warfare during much of his second. The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in the Shelby v. Holder case gutted Voting Rights Act enforcement, throwing into question the signal achievement of the civil rights movement’s heroic period.

Beginning with the 2012 shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, the nation reopened an intense debate on the continued horror of institutional racism evidenced by a string of high-profile deaths of black men, women, boys and girls at the hands of law enforcement.

The organized demonstrations, protests and outrage of a new generation of civil rights activists turned the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter into the clarion call for a new social justice movement. Black Lives Matter activists have forcefully argued that the U.S. criminal justice system represents a gateway to racial oppression, one marked by a drug war that disproportionately targets, punishes and warehouses young men and women of color. In her bestselling book “ The New Jim Crow ,” legal scholar Michelle Alexander argued that mass incarceration represents a racial caste system that echoes the pervasive, structural inequality of a system of racial apartheid that persists.

Obama’s first-term caution on race matters was punctured by his controversial remarks that police “acted stupidly” in the mistaken identity arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University’s prominent African American studies professor, in 2009. Four years later he entered the breach once more by proclaiming that if he had a son, “he’d look like Trayvon.”

In the aftermath of racial unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, and a racially motivated massacre in Charleston, S.C., Obama went further. In 2015, Obama found his voice in a series of stirring speeches in Selma, Ala., and Charleston, where he acknowledged America’s long and continuous history of racial injustice.

Policy-wise Obama has launched a private philanthropic effort, My Brother’s Keeper, designed to assist low-income black boys, and became the first president to visit a federal prison in a call for prison reform that foreshadowed the administration’s efforts to release federal inmates facing long sentences on relatively minor drug charges.

Despite these efforts, many of Obama’s African American supporters have expressed profound disappointment over the president’s refusal to forcefully pursue racial and economic justice policies for his most loyal political constituency.

From this perspective, the Obama presidency has played out as a cruel joke on members of the African American community who, despite providing indispensable votes, critical support and unstinting loyalty, find themselves largely shut out from the nation’s post-Great Recession economic recovery. Blacks have, critics suggested, traded away substantive policy demands for the largely symbolic psychological and emotional victory of having a black president and first family in the White House for eight years.

Others find that assessment harsh, noting that Obama’s most impressive policy achievements have received scant promotion from the White House or acknowledgment in the mainstream media.

History will decide the full measure of the importance, success, failures and shortcomings of the Obama presidency. With regard to race, Obama’s historical significance is ensured; only his impact and legacy are up for debate. In retrospect, the burden of transforming America’s tortured racial history in two four-year presidential terms proved impossible, even as its promise helped to catapult Obama to the nation’s highest office.

Obama’s presidency elides important aspects of the civil rights struggle, especially the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. King, for a time, served as the racial justice consciousness for two presidents — John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Many who hoped Obama might be able to serve both roles — as president and racial justice advocate — have been disappointed. Yet there is a revelatory clarity in that disappointment, proving that Obama is not King or Frederick Douglass, but Abraham Lincoln, Kennedy and Johnson. Even a black president, perhaps especially a black president, could not untangle racism’s Gordian knot on the body politic. Yet in acknowledging the limitations of Obama’s presidency on healing racial divisions and the shortcomings of his policies in uplifting black America, we may reach a newfound political maturity that recognizes that no one person — no matter how powerful — can single-handedly rectify structures of inequality constructed over centuries.

Peniel Joseph is professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

Being number one means nothing until there’s a number two.

If i had a son, he would look like trayvon., some young americans have known only one president in their lifetime..

• On war and leadership
• The parade of generals
• A tour of duty
• One enemy after another
• Words of war and peace
• The last convoy
• The rise of ISIS
• Weighing intervention
• An army of drones
• Struggle after service
• Fear at home
• Your fight, your stories

Has he failed to understand the nature of war or shown the virtues of patience to win the long game?

We won some good fights and we lost the war., no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy..

• Eight turbulent years
• Economic brinksmanship
• The price of Obamacare
• A new state of unions
• Shots fired
• A cultural shift
• ‘Healing the planet’
• Making presidential comedy
• A mark in the wilderness
• American reactions
• Your America

Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.

What is it like to be the last black president.

• Determined restraint
• For Muslims, unanswered prayers
• Open hand, clenched fist
• Talking to Tehran
• Closer now – and cigars!
• Standing in the world
• Friends, adversaries
• A pivot to Asia
• Air Force One miles
• Your worldview
• The new modern family
• White House, black women
• The first lady’s last stand
• It’s an Obama thing
• In the cultural mix
• White House parents
• The most popular of them all?
• The O’Bidens
• The first dogs

The Obama family has really uplifted the image of the black family from the moment we saw them.

He does not walk. he strolls with a black man’s head-up posture..

Share this series

What President Obama’s executive actions mean for President Trump

• Terence Samuel, project editor
• Allison Michaels, project manager, digital editor
• Shannon Croom, multiplatform editor
• Courtney Rukan, multiplatform editor
• Emily Chow, graphics assignment editor
• Seth Blanchard
• Emily Yount
• Suzette Moyer, art director
• James Steinberg, illustrator (The First Black President)
• Brian Stauffer, illustrator (Commander in Chief)
• Thandiwe Tshabalala, illustrator (Obama’s America)
• Jasu Hu, illustrator (Obama and the World)
• Erin K. Robinson, illustrator (The First Family)
• Dalton Bennett
• Gillian Brockell
• Bastein Inzaurralde
• Claritza Jimenez
• Ashleigh Joplin
• Whitney Leaming
• Osman Malik
• Zoeann Murphy
• Erin O’Conner
• Sarah Parnass
• Mahnaz Rezaie
• Jorge Ribas
• Whitney Shefte
• Peter Stevenson
• Stephen Cook
• Robert Miller
• Kenneth Dickerman
• Wendy Galietta
• Bronwen Latimer
• Derek Chollet
• Elliot Cohen
• Christian Davenport
• Ivo H. Daalder
• Mike DeBonis
• Karen DeYoung
• Juliet Eilperin
• Michael Fletcher
• Thomas Gibbons-Neff
• Robin Givhan
• Will Haygood
• Sari Horwitz
• Peniel Joseph
• Wesley Lowery
• David Maraniss
• Greg Miller
• Steven Mufson
• David Nakamura
• John Pomfret
• Peter Slevin
• Kevin Sullivan
• Krissah Thompson
• Neely Tucker
• William Wan
• Vanessa Williams
• Darla Cameron
• Scott Clement
• Emily Guskin
• Stephanie Stamm
• Aaron Steckelberg
• Elise Viebeck

Watch CBS News

Top Cuban official says country open to more U.S. deportations, blames embargo for migrant exodus

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez

April 18, 2024 / 4:22 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Cuba's government is willing to accept more deportation flights from the U.S. of Cuban migrants, who have traveled to the southern border in record numbers over the past three years, a top Cuban official told CBS News in an exclusive interview. 

After a two-year pause, the U.S. restarted deportation flights to the island last year. Since then, the U.S. has been sending one flight with Cuban deportees to Havana each month.

But in an interview with CBS News this week, Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said Cuban officials are willing to accommodate more than one flight per month.

"We're open to having more" deportation flights, said Fernández de Cossío, who visited Washington this week to meet with Biden administration officials for the latest round of migration talks between the two countries.

Since the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the U.S. and Cuba have had a deeply contentious relationship. The Cold War-era rivals still bitterly disagree on many issues, from Cuba's human rights record and its ties to China and Russia to the decades-long American embargo on Cuban imports and exports.

But Washington and Havana have worked together on immigration, including by signing the 1994 U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords, which officials from both nations are discussing this week. The two countries' work on immigration has intensified in recent years amid the record arrival of hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Since the start of fiscal year 2021, the U.S. has processed more than 450,000 Cuban migrants at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The flow of Cuban migrants to the U.S. border has slowed since last year, when the Biden administration created programs that have allowed some Cubans to fly into the U.S. legally or appear at an official border crossing.

In the interview this week, Fernández de Cossío blamed the exodus from Cuba in recent years on the U.S. embargo and other American policies, including the 1960s Cuban Adjustment Act, which created a special pathway to permanent U.S. residency for certain Cuban migrants. Only Congress can change that law.

Fernández de Cossío said the U.S. is "aiming at destroying the Cuban economy" through its sanctions. He did not concede that economic mismanagement and repressive policies by Havana have also driven Cubans to flee the island, as the U.S. government has argued.  

"You can speak about other factors, but if you have a consistent policy by the most powerful economy in the world to try to destroy the livelihood of a whole population, 11 million Cubans, it is logical to expect people, a segment of the population, to want to leave the country," he said.

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security assessed that "Cuba's deteriorating economic conditions and political repression continue to increasingly drive Cubans out of their country."

Fernández de Cossío also cited the lack of some legal channels for Cuban citizens to come to the U.S. for illegal crossings along the southern border by Cubans.

He urged the State Department to resume the processing of tourist and short-term visas in Havana. The Biden administration restarted immigrant visa processing in Cuba, but short-term visa seekers in Cuba still have to travel to a third country to have their cases processed. 

Fernández de Cossío said U.S. officials informed him they would resume full visa processing in Cuba in the future.

Representatives for the State Department did not respond to requests to comment on Fernández de Cossío's remarks.

Fernández de Cossío expressed some concern about additional U.S. sanctions if former President Donald Trump is elected in November. During Trump's tenure, the U.S. had a more aggressive stance towards Cuba, reversing the Obama administration's attempt to normalize relations with Havana.

"Of course we're concerned if there are additional economic measures [against] Cuba, regardless of who wins the election. The Biden administration has very faithfully applied the policies put in place by the Trump administration and added some," he said. "So we would not [be] surprised they would do it. It would be unfair, and we believe it would be immoral, but we have to acknowledge that would happen and [it] gives us room for concern."

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.

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