--- title: Barack Obama Cuba: Full Transcript of His Speech description: Here is a full transcript of his remarks. canonical: https://time.com/4267933/barack-obama-cuba-speech-transcript-full-text/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-22T16:43:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:07:06.721Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Speech to the Cuban People og:description: Here is a full transcript. og:url: https://time.com/4267933/barack-obama-cuba-speech-transcript-full-text/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a4ec7ae422de2c4/69888c0c8e06017c5e4651f9/516939346.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Delivers Speech At Gran Teatro In Havana og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Speech to the Cuban People twitter:description: Here is a full transcript. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a4ec7ae422de2c4/69888c0c8e06017c5e4651f9/516939346.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Speech to the Cuban People by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 22, 2016 4:43 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama waves after delivering remarks at the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso in the hisoric Habana Vieja, or Old Havana, neighborhood March 22, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. Described as a message to the Cuban people about his vision for the future of Cuba, Obama's speech will be nationally televised to the 11 million people on the communist-controlled island. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images U.S. President Barack Obama waves after delivering remarks at the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso in the hisoric Habana Vieja, or Old Havana, neighborhood March 22, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. Described as a message to the Cuban people about his vision for the future of Cuba, Obama's speech will be nationally televised to the 11 million people on the communist-controlled island. Chip Somodevilla—Getty ImagesChip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 22, 2016 4:43 PM UTC President Obama [spoke directly to the Cuban people](http://time.com/4267801/barack-obama-cuba-speech-analysis) in speech in Havana, outlining a path forward for the U.S. and the island nation. Here is a full transcript of his remarks. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4267933/barack-obama-cuba-speech-transcript-full-text/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4267933/barack-obama-cuba-speech-transcript-full-text/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Speech to the Cuban People","datePublished":"2016-03-22T16:43:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:07:06.721Z","description":"Here is a full transcript of his remarks.","url":"https://time.com/4267933/barack-obama-cuba-speech-transcript-full-text/","keywords":["Cuba","Barack Obama","Foreign Policy","White House","Cuba topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a4ec7ae422de2c4/69888c0c8e06017c5e4651f9/516939346.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a4ec7ae422de2c4/69888c0c8e06017c5e4651f9/516939346.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Delivers Speech At Gran Teatro In Havana","caption":"President Obama Delivers Speech At Gran Teatro In Havana","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cuba/","name":"Cuba"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4267933/barack-obama-cuba-speech-transcript-full-text/","name":"Read President Obama's Speech to the Cuban People"}}]}] ```