Obama to meet with Raul Castro today during historic trip to Cuba

President Obama walks through Old Havana during Cuba trip

(Image credit: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 21 March 2016

After President Obama landed in Cuba on Sunday, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the island in 88 years, he and his family walked through Old Havana, dined at a restaurant, and visited the Catholic cathedral. On Monday, Obama gets to work, meeting with Cuban leader Raul Castro at the Palace of the Revolution. It will be the fourth encounter between Obama and Castro, and the longest and most substantial. "That's the future that we hope for: young American children, young Cuban children, by the time they're adults, our hope is that they think it's natural that a U.S. president should be visiting Cuba," Obama told staff at the recently reopened U.S. Embassy on Sunday evening. "They think it's natural that the two peoples are working together."

But it's not clear how far Castro is willing to go, or Obama can go. Castro is expected to press Obama to end the U.S. embargo, something only Congress can do, and Obama says he will push Castro to respect freedom of speech and assembly. "I will raise these issues directly with President Castro," Obama told a dissident group, Ladies in White, in a March 10 letter. Hours before Obama landed, Cuban police broke up a Ladies in White protest, arresting dozens, in a weekly occurrence.

Later Monday, Obama will attend a state dinner in his honor, and on Tuesday he will meet with dissidents, watch a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba's national team, and give a speech carried live on state TV. You can watch Obama walk through raining Old Havana with his family in the AFP video below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.