Obama to visit Cuba next month

U.S. President Barack Obama is planning a trip to Cuba some time next month, marking the first time in more than 80 years a sitting U.S. president will visit the island country, U.S. media reported late Wednesday.

The trip is planned for March 21 to 22 before Obama flies to Argentina, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported, citing sources with knowledge of the plan.

A National Security Council official plans to make the announcement on Thursday at the White House briefing, ABC said.

The last and only sitting U.S. president to visit the island nation was Calvin Coolidge, in 1928, to address the Sixth Annual International Conference of American States in Havana, according to ABC.

• Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter traveled to Cuba in 2002, 20 years after leaving office, at the invitation of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

In December 2014, Obama announced plans to restore diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, ending a failed policy of isolation that had lasted for more than five decades. The two countries reestablished diplomatic ties and reopened embassies in each other's capital last summer.
 [Xinhua -china.org.cn]
18/2/16
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