President Barack Obama will visit Cuba in the coming weeks, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, making a historic trip in the final year of his presidency that will mark a turning point in US relations with a long-time Cold War foe.
The White House plans to announce the visit on Thursday. The Cuba stop will be part of a broader trip to Latin America.
The visit to Havana by Obama would cap what administration officials see as one of his legacy foreign policy achievements: normalising relations with Cuba and taking steps toward expanded commercial relations after a 54-year freeze.
Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shocked the world in December 2014 by announcing the former adversaries would move to normalise relations.
The Republican majority in Congress has defied Obama’s call to rescind the five-decade-old embargo, so he has used his executive authority to relax trade and travel restrictions.
A visit by Obama to Havana in late March would correspond with the finalisation of a peace deal for Colombia that was encouraged and sponsored by Castro.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)