[Cubans have shown a great
affinity for Mr. Obama throughout his presidency, but their sense of kinship
intensified after he announced restored relations with Cuba
on Dec. 17, 2014 . That
date is now recited often as a new starting point for the country, joining
other historic dates, like July 26, 1953 ,
when Fidel Castro mounted an attack on the Moncada barracks, initiating a
revolution.]
By Julie Hirschfeld
Davis And Damien Cave
 |
President Obama landed at
The New York Times |
Just hours before Air Force One
arrived at José Martí
International Airport Cuba
became apparent as police officers, surrounded by pro-government demonstrators,
detained dozens of protesters at a weekly march of the Ladies in White, a
prominent dissident group.
The protest, which occurs on most
Sundays outside a church in the Miramar
district of Havana, was widely expected to be a test of Cuba ’s
tolerance for dissent during Mr. Obama’s trip. The arrests confirmed that the
government was maintaining and intensifying its repressive tactics ahead of the visit.
“We thought there would be a
truce, but it wasn’t to be,” said Elizardo Sánchez, who runs the Cuban
Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, noting that the arrests
took place “in the moment that Obama was flying in the air to Cuba .”
The question of how to handle
political opposition to President Raùl Castro’s government is one of many
political thickets that Mr. Obama will have to navigate here.
Berta Soler, the head of the
Ladies in White, is one of a dozen dissidents invited to meet with Mr. Obama on
Tuesday at the United States Embassy. Other dissidents said, however, that it
was not clear if she would attend because of her opposition to the American
president’s policy of engagement.
Mr. Obama also arrives with a
great deal of support for his effort to bring old enemies together, both among
the Cuban people, who describe Mr. Obama as a transformative figure, and within
the United States, where interest in Cuba has already begun to swell.
The president, who arrived with
the first lady, Michelle Obama; their daughters, Sasha and Malia; and his
mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, will begin and end his trip as a tourist in
chief. He planned to stroll through Old Havana on Sunday and attend an
exhibition baseball game between an American major-league team and Cuban
players on Tuesday.
In between, his itinerary is
shaped by the contradictions that still complicate the United
States ’ relationship with Cuba :
a meeting on Monday with Mr. Castro at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat
of the Communist government, and another on Tuesday with the group of
dissidents who have been victims of government repression.
Mr. Obama was accompanied by a
large delegation of members of Congress from both parties who are eager to
support his call to lift the trade embargo against Cuba ,
which still looms as an obstacle to the rapprochement the president is seeking.
Also along for the journey were
dozens of American business executives seeking lucrative opportunities on the
island.
As rain began to fall at 4 p.m. on Sunday, the streets of Havana
seemed oddly quiet. Just a few cars filled the main thoroughfares. In Old
Havana and near the United States Embassy on the Malecón seafront boulevard on Havana
Bay
After he arrives, Mr. Obama is
scheduled to visit the embassy, where the American flag was raised in August
for the first time since President Dwight D. Eisenhower severed diplomatic ties
with Cuba in 1961.
Mr. Obama also planned to meet on
Sunday evening with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who played a pivotal role in the
secret talks that led to an initial rapprochement in 2014. The cardinal made a
clandestine trip to the White House as an interlocutor for Pope Francis to prod
an agreement between Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro.
In the Cathedral of the Virgin
Mary of the Immaculate Conception, where Mr. Obama was expected to stop on his
afternoon tour, Cubans celebrated Palm Sunday while whispering about the
American leader’s visit between prayers.
Outside the church, some
parishioners sounded surprised when told that the president would be engaging
not just with the government, but also with the Roman Catholic Church.
“It’s important for him to
understand the church, too,” said Hortencia Dominguez, 58, who appeared for
Mass wearing American flag tights. “It’s good for him to come.”
Cubans have shown a great
affinity for Mr. Obama throughout his presidency, but their sense of kinship
intensified after he announced restored relations with Cuba
on Dec. 17, 2014 . That
date is now recited often as a new starting point for the country, joining
other historic dates, like July 26, 1953 ,
when Fidel Castro mounted an attack on the Moncada barracks, initiating a
revolution.
Officials have been working for
weeks to beautify Havana . Roads
with more potholes than flat patches have been repaved. Buildings along the
president’s route have also been painted in attractive pastels, prompting
Cubans to call the president “St. Obama” and to joke, “Too bad Obama can’t stay
for a month or a year.”
The government had also made
clear to all Cubans, through editorials, preventive detentions and other means,
that it would not tolerate demonstrations or any other form of public dissent —
against the government or the United States .
“Respect” is the choice word, the
defining principle — a sharp contrast with “imperialism,” the term associated
with the United States
for more than 50 years.
Still, there are nagging doubts, especially
among the young, that anything will change.
Outside the baseball stadium that
the president will visit on Tuesday, Juliet Garcia Gonzalez, 17, said she was
glad Mr. Obama was visiting because he had given her generation hope, a rare
commodity in a country that has long seemed stuck in place.
@ The New York Times
@ The New York Times