Cuba says Obama ‘welcome’ but shouldn’t expect much

Cuba’s state newspaper says US President Barack Obama will be warmly welcomed when he makes a historic visit later this month but warns him not to expect political concessions.

“The US leader will be welcomed by the government of Cuba and its people with the hospitality that distinguishes them and will be treated with all consideration and respect,” official daily Granma says in an editorial.

But it hastens to add: “No one can harbor the slightest doubt about Cuba’s unconditional adherence to its revolutionary and anti-imperialist ideals.”

Obama will visit the island March 21 and 22 — the first visit by a US president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, and a symbolically charged capstone to the rapprochement that he and Cuban leader Raul Castro announced in December 2014.

— AFP