President Obama’s Historic Trip To Cuba

U.S. President Barack Obama, center, walks in the rain with first lady Michelle Obama, who is holding the arm of her mother Marian Robinson, during a walking tour of Old Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 90 years.
U.S. President Barack Obama, center, walks in the rain with first lady Michelle Obama, who is holding the arm of her mother Marian Robinson, during a walking tour of Old Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 90 years. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo
U.S. President Barack Obama, center, walks in the rain with first lady Michelle Obama, who is holding the arm of her mother Marian Robinson, during a walking tour of Old Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 90 years.
U.S. President Barack Obama, center, walks in the rain with first lady Michelle Obama, who is holding the arm of her mother Marian Robinson, during a walking tour of Old Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the island in nearly 90 years. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo

President Obama’s Historic Trip To Cuba

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When President Obama touched down in Havana yesterday, it began the first U.S. presidential visit to Cuba since Calvin Coolidge came in 1928. 

Many observers hail the visit as the start of a new era of openness for Cuba, but critics have attacked President Obama. They accuse him of rewarding Cuba’s bad behavior.  

We get analysis on the historic trip from Elena Diaz, social economics professor at the University of Havana and founding director of the Latin American School of Social Sciences-Cuba. Joining Diaz is Christina Perez, associate professor of sociology at Dominican University. She’s author of the book Caring for Them From Birth to Death: The Practice of Community-Based Cuban Medicine. Perez is an expert on the Cuban health system and has led academic trips to Cuba.