President Barack Obama has touched down in Cuba for a historic visit that will include a meeting with President Raúl Castro.
The last US President to visit Cuba was Calvin Coolidge, who arrived on a US battleship in 1928 to be greeted by a Cuban artillery salute. When Air Force One touched down in Havana on Sunday, the welcome extended to Barack Obama was no less warm.
Mr Obama was met on landing by Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. He will begin his historic three-day visit with a tour of Old Havana, followed by a meeting with Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega, who, along with Pope Francis, helped to broker the recent rapprochement between the US and Cuba.
In 2014, Mr Obama and the Cuban President Raúl Castro announced that the two nations would begin normalising relations for the first time since Cuba’s Communist revolution in 1959, one of Mr Obama’s signature foreign policy accomplishments. Home rental service Airbnb has announced it would open listings in Cuba after becoming the first major American company to enter the country.
Mr Obama announced his arrival on Twitter:
Mr Obama and Mr Castro are due to meet for talks on Monday before a state dinner in the evening. On Tuesday, Mr Obama is due to give a speech outlining his hopes for future US-Cuban relations. The venue is the Gran Teatro de La Habana, where Coolidge addressed the Pan-American Conference 88 years ago.
