--- title: Obama Aims to Nudge Change Along With Historic Cuba Visit description: Barack Obama was due to become the first sitting U.S. President in 88 years to visit Cuba on March 20, meeting Cuban President Raúl Castro... canonical: https://time.com/4262477/obama-aims-to-nudge-change-along-with-historic-cuba-visit/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-17T10:16:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:58:35.801Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Aims to Nudge Change Along With Historic Cuba Visit og:description: Barack Obama was due to become the first sitting U.S. President in 88 years to visit Cuba on March 20, meeting Cuban President Raúl Castro... og:url: https://time.com/4262477/obama-aims-to-nudge-change-along-with-historic-cuba-visit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Aims to Nudge Change Along With Historic Cuba Visit twitter:description: Barack Obama was due to become the first sitting U.S. President in 88 years to visit Cuba on March 20, meeting Cuban President Raúl Castro... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Obama Aims to Nudge Change Along With Historic Cuba Visit > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Mar 17, 2016 10:16 AM UTC  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Mar 17, 2016 10:16 AM UTC Barack Obama was due to become the first sitting U.S. President in 88 years to visit Cuba on March 20, meeting Cuban President Raúl Castro and taking in an exhibition baseball game. The White House eased major restrictions ahead of Obama’s visit, signaling that the U.S. is ready to engage with the island nation after years of détente. But obstacles still remain: WARMER WELCOME The White House loosening of limits effectively permits Americans to visit Cuba without prior approval and makes it easier for U.S. companies to do business there. Marriott, Carnival and American Airlines are among the firms now applying to operate in Cuba’s burgeoning tourism industry, worth roughly $2.7 billion last year. SLOW PROGRESS Castro has moved haltingly in easing limits on Cubans working for U.S. firms, and Obama has acknowledged that full relations cannot resume until the U.S. Congress lifts the five-decades-old embargo on trade. Senate Republicans have suggested the embargo will be lifted only when Cuba improves its human-rights record. WORK TO DO Cuban authorities detained 1,414 dissidents in January, and critics say Obama is propping up a regime that is unwilling to make reforms. The U.S. President was expected to meet with anti-Castro activists during his two-day visit, but the challenge remains moving change beyond the symbolic. –JULIA ZORTHIAN ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4262477/obama-aims-to-nudge-change-along-with-historic-cuba-visit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4262477/obama-aims-to-nudge-change-along-with-historic-cuba-visit/"},"headline":"Obama Aims to Nudge Change Along With Historic Cuba Visit","datePublished":"2016-03-17T10:16:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:58:35.801Z","description":"Barack Obama was due to become the first sitting U.S. President in 88 years to visit Cuba on March 20, meeting Cuban President Raúl Castro...","url":"https://time.com/4262477/obama-aims-to-nudge-change-along-with-historic-cuba-visit/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"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":"https://time.com/4262477/obama-aims-to-nudge-change-along-with-historic-cuba-visit/","name":"Obama Aims to Nudge Change Along With Historic Cuba Visit"}}]}] ```