President Obama to Deliver Speech at the Alicia Alonso Theater in Havana

U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver a speech Tuesday at the Alicia Alonso Theater in Havana during his historic visit to Cuba, the White House informed Wednesday.

The U.S. government hopes the speech will be broadcast live on Cuba television. “This is a speech for the Cuban people. The Cuban people want to listen to what the president has to say,” said White House advisor Ben Rhodes, who added that Cuban authorities have so far made no objections to the live broadcast.

Mr. Obama will arrive in Cuba on Sunday for a three-day visit to the island nation, just eight months after diplomatic relations between the two countries were officially reestablished.

The president will come to Cuba with his wife Michelle, his two daughters Sasha and Malia, and is mother-in-law, Mrs. Marian Robinson. This is the first trip to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president in 88 years.

“The president’s visit is a major step forward in the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. It signals the beginning of a new era between our two countries and our peoples,” said U.S. acting ambassador to Cuba, Jeffrey DeLaurentis.

The Air Force One will touch down in Havana this Sunday. President Obama’s official schedule includes meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro and attending an exhibition baseball game between the Cuban national squad and the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.

Barack Obama will become the second U.S. sitting president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge arrived in Havana back in 1928. Washington and Havana resumed diplomatic relations that were severed in 1961, two years after the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.