Barack Obama to Visit Cuba Next Month

American networks reported on Wednesday, February 17, citing government officials and diplomats, that Barack Obama, the President of the United States, is set to visit Cuba next month. This will be the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Cuba in over 80 years. ABC News reported that the U.S. president is likely to travel to Cuba on March 21 and 22, before heading to Argentina. CNN also reported that the White House is expected to announce the president's travel plans to Cuba on Thursday. According to ABC, fifteen months after the request to establish diplomatic relations and exchange prisoners between Washington and Havana in December 2014, Barack Obama will visit Havana as the first sitting U.S. president in over 80 years in a historic trip. Following the commencement of negotiations between the two countries, the U.S. and Cuba agreed in June 2015 to resume diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies in Havana and Washington. ABC reported that the last sitting U.S. president to officially visit Cuba was Calvin Coolidge, who traveled to Havana in 1928 to participate in the sixth annual meeting of the countries of the Americas. The report adds that U.S. and Cuban presidents met between 1925 and 1933. Jimmy Carter visited Cuba twenty years after his presidency in 2002. Barack Obama announced his intention to restore relations with Cuba during his first term and reduced travel and money transfer restrictions for Cuban citizens. John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, participated in a historic ceremony to reopen the U.S. embassy in Havana on August 23 of this year. During this ceremony, the American flag was raised over the embassy in Cuba after 54 years. In this context, the reopening ceremony of the U.S. embassy in Cuba with the presence of John Kerry marked the resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba after 54 years.