--- title: Obama Sends Letter on the First Mail Flight to Cuba description: President Obama replied to a Cuban letter writer that will arrive via the first U.S. mail flight to the country in more than 50 years. canonical: https://time.com/4262664/obama-cuba-letter/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-17T14:15:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:59:26.944Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Sends Letter on the First Mail Flight to Cuba in More Than 50 Years og:description: "I am looking forward to visiting Havana to foster this relationship" og:url: https://time.com/4262664/obama-cuba-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt653ef9a506ccd738/69888b65428a9e7130cd1d81/barack-obama-letter-to-cuba.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Obama laughs while joking about Trump's personal brand of wine as he delivers remarks to supporters at a DNC event at Gilley's Club in Dallas, Texas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Sends Letter on the First Mail Flight to Cuba in More Than 50 Years twitter:description: "I am looking forward to visiting Havana to foster this relationship" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt653ef9a506ccd738/69888b65428a9e7130cd1d81/barack-obama-letter-to-cuba.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Sends Letter on the First Mail Flight to Cuba in More Than 50 Years  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2016 2:15 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama laughs while he delivers remarks to supporters at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) event at Gilley's Club in Dallas, Texas on March 12, 2016. U.S. President Barack Obama laughs while he delivers remarks to supporters at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) event at Gilley's Club in Dallas, Texas on March 12, 2016.Jonathan Ernst—Reuters  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2016 2:15 PM UTC President Barack Obama [penned a reply](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/03/17/asked-and-answered-sending-direct-mail-cuba-first-time-50-years) to a Cuban letter writer that will arrive via the first U.S. mail flight to the Caribbean country in more than 50 years. The letter comes just days before Obama is scheduled to visit Cuba on the first visit by a U.S. president to the county in nearly 90 years. Obama will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, attend a state dinner and meet with Cuban dissidents [during the trip](http://fortune.com/2016/03/17/obama-visit-cuba/). The letter writer—76-year-old Ileana R. Yarza—said she had followed Obama’s political ascendency and wished he could have a third term. “Thank you for your kind words,” Obama said in the letter. “I am looking forward to visiting Havana to foster this relationship and highlight our shared values.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4262664/obama-cuba-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4262664/obama-cuba-letter/"},"headline":"Obama Sends Letter on the First Mail Flight to Cuba in More Than 50 Years","datePublished":"2016-03-17T14:15:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:59:26.944Z","description":"The letter comes days before Obama is scheduled to visit Cuba on the first trip by a U.S. president to the county in nearly 90 years","url":"https://time.com/4262664/obama-cuba-letter/","keywords":["Barack Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt653ef9a506ccd738/69888b65428a9e7130cd1d81/barack-obama-letter-to-cuba.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt653ef9a506ccd738/69888b65428a9e7130cd1d81/barack-obama-letter-to-cuba.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama laughs while joking about Trump's personal brand of wine as he delivers remarks to supporters at a DNC event at Gilley's Club in Dallas, Texas","caption":"U.S. President Barack Obama laughs while he delivers remarks to supporters at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) event at Gilley's Club in Dallas, Texas on March 12, 2016.","creditText":"Jonathan Ernst—Reuters","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":"https://time.com/4262664/obama-cuba-letter/","name":"Obama Sends Letter on the First Mail Flight to Cuba in More Than 50 Years"}}]}] ```