The White House announced Thursday morning that President Obama will travel to Havana March 21-22 and meet with Cuban dictator Raul Castro.
The visit, the first time a sitting president has traveled to the island nation in 90 years, is “another demonstration of the president’s commitment to chart a new course for U.S.-Cuban relations and connect U.S. and Cuban citizens through expanded travel, commerce and access to information,” the White House said in a statement.
In the face of mounting GOP criticism in Congress to the decision to make the trip, Obama took to Twitter Thursday morning to announce the controversial trip.
“Next month, I’ll travel to Cuba to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the Cuban people,” he tweeted.
Next month, I’ll travel to Cuba to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the Cuban people.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) February 18, 2016
“In Cuba, the president will work to build on the progress we have made toward normalization of relations with Cuba – advancing commercial and people-to-people ties that can improve the well-being of the Cuban people, and expressing support for human rights,” the White House statement continued.
In addition to meeting with Castro, Obama will engage with “members of civil society, entrepreneurs and Cubans from all walks of life.”
Obama will then move on to Buenos Aires for two days to meet with the new Argentine President Mauricio Macri to discuss his “reform agenda” and “recognize his contributions to the defense of human rights in the region,” the White House said.
The president is making the short trip to the communist island nation despite an avalanche of criticism from Cuban members of Congress, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a top GOP primary contender.
Rubio said the trip comes too soon and that Obama should wait until the island nation is no longer a dictatorship and the people are truly free.
Obama’s Twitter chatter directly countered that.
“We still have differences with the Cuban government that I will raise directly,” he stated. “America will always stand for human rights around the world.”
