US President Barack Obama touches down in Cuba for first visit in 88 years as relations thaw

BARACK Obama is the first US president to visit Cuba since 1959, touching down in Havana just hours after protesters were arrested there.
President Obama will hold talks with Communist leader Raul Castro, brother of revolutionary dictator Fidel Castro who led the country for over 30
years.
The visit comes as relations between the two nations have rapidly thawed under Obama's administration.

Crowds of goverment supporters march in the streets as Obama arrives Reuters

The US President smiled and waved as he disembarked from Air Force One, accompanied by First Lady Michelle, and daughters Sasha and Malia.
Shortly beforehand he tweeted: "Looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people."
The two leaders are expected to discuss trade and attend a state dinner together.

Momentous occasion ... Obama will meet Raul Castro to discuss trade Reuters

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But tensions do still exist between Cuba and the US. The American trade embargo with Cuba can only be lifted by a vote in Congress, and Cuba objects to the US use of the Guantanamo Bay base on the island.
And just before President Obama touched down there were signs of civil unrest in the capital Havana.
Protesters known as the Ladies in White were arrested for staging a protest outside a church several blocks away from the airport.
The group protest against the incarceration of political prisoners, and is formed mostly by the prisoners' wives.

Obama met dignitaries and crowds as he arrived in Cuba AP:Associated Press

President Obama has announced that he intends to meet with dissidents and political factions on the island, even if doing so causes tension with the Cuban administration.
Obama will not meet Fidel, who retired in 2008 because of ill health.
National security advisor Ben Rhodes previously told reporters would only meet with Raul as he is the nation's President.
“That’s the appropriate government-to-government engagement, and so that’s what he’ll be pursuing,” he said.
It was Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement which overthrew a pro-US government in 1959, leading to decades of diplomatic hostility.
But in the last few years, relations have thawed, and scheduled airlines once again run between the two nations.