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 Taking the stage at Havana’s Grand Theater with President Raul
Castro in attendance, Obama said he was in Cuba to extend a hand of
friendship and "bury the last remnant" of the Cold War in the
Americas.
But he also pressed hard for economic and political reforms and
greater openness in a one-party state where the government stifles
dissent, Internet access is low and the media is in state hands.
His speech was the high point of a 48-hour trip made possible by his
agreement with Castro in December 2014 to cast aside decades of
hostility that began soon after Cuba's 1959 revolution, and work to
normalize relations.
Nonetheless, Obama threw down a very public gauntlet to Castro,
saying Cubans cannot realize their full potential if his government
does not allow change and relax its grip on Cuban politics and
society.
"I believe citizens should be free to speak their minds without
fear," Obama told the audience on the final day of his visit.
“Voters should be able to choose their governments in free and
democratic elections.”
"Not everybody agrees with me on this, not everybody agrees with the
American people on this but I believe those human rights are
universal. I believe they’re the rights of the American people, the
Cuban people and people around the world,” Obama said.
The hand-picked audience cheered him repeatedly, especially when he
criticized the longstanding U.S. economic embargo against Cuba,
spoke glowingly of Cubans' talents and praised the country's
achievements in healthcare and education.
The spectacle of the leader of the United States, the superpower to
the north for long reviled by Cuba's government, standing in Havana
and urging such changes in a speech broadcast into homes across the
island would have been unthinkable before the two countries began
their rapprochement 15 months ago.
Since then, Obama has repeatedly used his executive powers to relax
trade and travel restrictions, while also pushing Cuba to accelerate
cautious market-style reforms introduced by Castro and allow greater
political and economic freedom.
Castro has welcomed Obama's moves while insisting that a new
relationship with the old enemy does not mean Cuba plans to change
its political system.
The audience of more than 1,000 people at Obama's speech on Tuesday
included officials and business people from both countries, U.S.
lawmakers and members of Cuba’s cultural elite.
Obama drew sustained applause when he reiterated his call for the
U.S. Congress to lift the embargo, which he called "an outdated
burden on the Cuban people."
But the response was more muted when he challenged Castro to allow
greater political liberties.
Obama went straight from the speech to a private meeting with
prominent dissidents on the island, a few of whom object to his
engagement policy.
"As far as I am concerned nothing has changed, the repression
continues," said Berta Soler from the Ladies in White group, who met
Obama at the embassy.
Cuba's government dismisses the dissidents as mercenaries without
public support but Obama applauded their work and "extraordinary
courage."
 Obama sees his dramatic shift away from a decades-old policy of
trying to isolate and weaken Cuba as a success story and wants to
make it an irreversible part of his legacy by the time he leaves
office in January.
Still, major obstacles remain to full normalization of ties, notably
the differences over human rights, the Republican-controlled U.S.
Congress' refusal to lift the embargo and Washington's resistance to
discussing the return of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
Obama's critics at home have criticized his visit to Cuba as a
premature reward to the Communist government. U.S. House of
Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said on Tuesday the
trip legitimizes what he called Castro's "tyrannical dictatorship."
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'IT'S UP TO YOU'
With his words carried live by Cuba’s state-run media, Obama sought
to persuade ordinary Cubans that his new policy was focused
primarily on helping them to improve their lives.
Standing at a lectern flanked by U.S. and Cuban flags, he laid out a
hopeful vision of future relations and told Cubans “it’s up to you”
to take steps to change the country.
Obama pointedly stopped short of what some of his critics had
demanded – that he echo U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s famous
exhortation in a 1987 speech in West Berlin for Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
But he did encourage Cubans to embrace democracy, set up their own
businesses and help improve Cuban society.
"Many suggested that I come here and ask the people of Cuba to tear
something down. But I'm appealing to the young people of Cuba who
will lift something up, build something new," he said.
Some Cubans who saw the speech in their homes or local cafes were
also impressed by his frank admission of America’s own failings.
"He has been very honest in his statements," said Santiago
Rodriguez, 78, in his home in central Havana. "It is not only the
blockade (embargo) that has overwhelmed us for years. This was a
message full of suggestions and positive criticism for the future of
Cuba."
Castro, an army general who took over as president from his ailing
brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008, was at the theater to greet Obama on
arrival and sat in the audience for the speech. At the end, he
lightly applauded from the balcony, then waved to the crowd.
Later, the two leaders entered together to loud applause at Havana’s
Latin American Stadium and sat side-by-side for a baseball game
between Cuba’s much-loved national team and Major League Baseball's
Tampa Bay Rays.
Castro was also on hand at the airport to bid Obama farewell, giving
him an enthusiastic handshake at the bottom of Air Force One's
stairway and then exchanging waves once the U.S. leader reached the
top.
After the two men met on Monday, they aired some of the old
grievances between their countries at a joint news conference, even
as they sought to advance the diplomatic thaw.
Obama’s administration is seeking to galvanize the Cuban people to
help him pressure their government for reforms. But flashes of anger
from Castro at the news conference illustrated how Washington runs
the risk of being accused of meddling.
Obama’s address on Tuesday was the first time a sitting U.S.
president’s speech was broadcast to the Cuban people while on Cuban
soil – although speeches by visiting popes have been carried live by
state media.
Jimmy Carter, traveling to Cuba in 2002 as the first former U.S.
president to visit since the revolution, also called for political
freedoms in a speech broadcast on live television.
(Additional reporting by Dan Trotta, Frank Jack Daniel, Marc Frank
and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Kieran Murray, Frances Kerry and Tom
Brown)
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