Senior administration official
confirms the plans to CBS News; trip "definitely a shocker," one
analyst says
President Obama will travel to
Cuba in coming weeks, a senior administration official confirmed to CBS News
Wednesday night.
The
administration will announce the president's upcoming trip to Latin America,
including Cuba, on Thursday, the official said.
No sitting
U.S. president has visited Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
More than a
year after moving to normalize
relations with Cuba, the White House has concluded conditions are
now right for Mr. Obama to visit the island.
CBS News'
Pamela Falk calls the planned visit "a shocker."
"By
going to Cuba while he is still in office, Mr. Obama is showing Havana that he
will continue to make enough progress that it will be difficult for the next
president to change course from restoring ties with Cuba -- and he is proving
to Congress that the president still has a lot of executive authority to change
foreign policy," Falk said.
The
announcement will come only two days after the U.S. and Cuba signed an agreement restoring commercial air traffic
between their two countries for the first time in 50 years.
Source: (CBS NEWS,
2016)
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