As Twitchy reported, one of the first agenda items announced as part of President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba was to take in a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game in Havana. (Please please please don’t let him throw out the first pitch …)
Play ball! https://t.co/S4DhVYa4Ef
— President Obama (@POTUS44) March 2, 2016
The remainder of his agenda has been announced, and it includes a walking tour of Old Havana with the family (sorry if we missed the announcement, but this is the first we’d heard that he was taking the wife and kids along) and a meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro at the Revolutionary Palace.
The president is also scheduled to meet with human rights activists, although the Los Angeles Times reports today that Cuban authorities “are ordering dissidents invited to meet with the American leader to stay home instead.”
Cuba is: painting, planting, preparing for Obama. Cubans w/still have no rights, gov't will still be corrupt but Obama will feel good!
— CAS (@Cspen335) March 19, 2016
The walking tour sounds lovely, and we’d hate for news that nine Cubans drowned today trying to reach the United States to cast a shadow on the Obama family’s working vacation. In a press release, the Coast Guard noted “a steady increase in illegal maritime migration attempts from Cuba to the southeastern U.S. since the US announcement of normalized diplomatic relations with Cuba in December 2014.”
Nine Cubans die at sea and 18 rescued off Florida, US coast guard reports https://t.co/459QlqMGzP
— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) March 19, 2016
Recommended
Will Obama during visit to #Cuba pay tribute to those Cubans have died at sea fleeing regime? Huge issue below surface of Cuban society.
— Charles Lane (@ChuckLane1) March 19, 2016
Short answer: No.
https://twitter.com/HudsonTaylor17/status/711232192844853248
@ChuckLane1 Might get in the way of what he calls a "fun" trip.
— Sharon Askew (@SAskew49) March 19, 2016
@ChuckLane1 are you kidding? He'll apologize for it and blame the USA
— Brian Leydon (@bleydon) March 19, 2016
Why are people visiting Cuba even though it's still communist?! Cubans are literally dying while trying to escape
— bai (@Bailey_Jade15) March 19, 2016
The Chicago Tribune today reveals that not all Cubans are thrilled with the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
Fearing a window will close, Cubans flock to the U.S.: "There's nothing here. Nothing." https://t.co/7UXsa3DqzY pic.twitter.com/7whFw8WQkW
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) March 19, 2016
Leonid Castro, who recently fled Cuba and now works in Las Vegas, told the Tribune, “I know that in America if I work, I can win.” He hopes his wife, who stayed behind, can join him soon. “I want opportunity,” she told the Tribune. “There’s nothing here. Nothing.” But Obama’s going to fix that, right?
Reporter Kate Linthicum writes:
[Leonid] Castro, 30, is one of many Cubans who fear that warming relations with the U.S. may spell an end to the special status that allows Cubans to live and work legally in America if they can manage to reach U.S. soil. Instead of staying to see how the new Cuba plays out, Castro elected to make a move while immigration laws are still in his favor.
The Cubans who died at sea are part of a surge of refugees, many of whom are passing through Mexico.
WHY 40k Cubans surging across Mexico border into US & why u haven't heard about it @RepCuellar Sun @FullMeasureNews pic.twitter.com/dKtkZ9LCz2
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) March 19, 2016
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