President Barack Obama is the first American president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years. And his historic visit is leading to some memorable photos — like this shot of Air Force One flying over cars that have been on the streets since before the Cuban revolution in 1959.
President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba, in 5 incredible photos
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
Even in the rain, crowds of Cubans waited by the side of the road to greet the president’s motorcade as it passed by. A recent poll by the Washington Post, Univision Noticias, and Fusion found Obama is very popular in Cuba — he has an approval rating of 80 percent, much higher than either Fidel Castro, Cuba’s longtime leader, or Raúl Castro, Cuba’s current president.
A Cuban man wrapped in an American flag applauds for Obama's motorcade as it passes by.
Obama and his family took a tour of Old Havana led by city historian Eusebio Leal, greeting tourists and Cubans. During the tour, cheers and shouts of, “USA! USA!” rang out, according to reporters traveling with the president.
At the Havana Cathedral, Obama met with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who played a key role in the talks that led to normalized relations between the US and Cuba, including hand-delivering a note from Pope Francis to Obama and Raúl Castro urging them to agree on a prisoner exchange as a humanitarian issue.
Obama greets Cubans and tourists near the Havana Cathedral.
Obama also visited Havana’s City Museum, which includes a portrait of Abraham Lincoln that Cuban officials had placed in the entryway to greet him:
Obama with a portrait of Lincoln at Havana's City Museum.
During his trip, Obama will also meet with Cuban anti-government activists on Tuesday. One group of human rights advocates, the Ladies in White, representing the relatives of political prisoners, marched in a Havana suburb hours before Obama landed. Many of the marchers were arrested.
“It’s very important that we do this so President Obama knows that there are women here fighting for the liberty of political prisoners,” Berta Soler, one of the group’s founding members, told USA Today. “And he needs to know that we are here being repressed simply for exercising our right to express ourselves and manifest in a non-violent way.”
Police drag away one of the Ladies in White members marching before Obama's arrival in Cuba.
Obama plans to meet with anti-government activists Tuesday, although some protesters told USA Today that they were being placed under house arrest so they wouldn’t be able to attend the meeting.
Tonight, the president attend a baseball game — a shared passion for the sport is one thing that unites the US and Cuba.
Watch: Cuba’s really terrible internet, explained
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