Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,
For half a century, Americans have been largely unable to visit Cuba and have had to rely on the US government and media for an understanding of the political, social and economic conditions there. What has been described as the “American Berlin Wall” has been successful in providing Americans with quite an inaccurate view.
As President Obama explained in his Townhall in Cuba...
President Obama delivered an interesting speech in Havana during his visit to Cuba in which he touted the benefits of normalization, promoted liberal principles, and called for an end to the embargo. Obama correctly observed that his visit to the island was the end of an outdated policy left over from the Cold War, and he said as much:
I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas. I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people.
According to reports on ABC News, online room and home rental giant Airbnb is now allowing travelers from all over the world to book in Cuba. The Northern California company revealed that they have been granted special permission from the current Presidential administration: Airbnb was the first major American company to enter Cuba after Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared detente on Dec. 17, 2014. The service handles online listing, booking and payments for people looking to stay in private homes instead of hotels.
President Barack Obama arrived in Havana on Sunday ending over half a century of Cuba’s isolation as a pariah state by the US. The US president as met by Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez when landed at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport aboard Air Force One on Sunday. ITV reports: The trip, which marks a new chapter in Washington’s engagement with the island’s Communist government, would have been all but unimaginable before a detente brokered in December 2014.