US President Obama's 1st Visit To Cuba In 88th Years

U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle exit Air Force One at Havana's airport.

In a letter to the Cuban dissident group the Ladies in White on 10 March, Mr Obama said: "I will raise these issues directly with President Castro."

President Barack Obama will sit down to talks with Cuban President Raul Castro to press for economic and democratic reforms on the island on the second day of his historic visit.

The talks - the fourth meeting between the two leaders - will take place at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, where Mr Castro is expected to raise the continued US economic sanctions on Cuba.

Mr Obama is under pressure in the US to urge the communist government in Cuba to allow dissent from political opponents and to further open its Soviet-style command economy.

Aides have said he will encourage economic reforms and call for greater access to the internet for Cubans.

He is also expected to announce that Google has won a deal to start providing more Wi-Fi and broadband access on the island, ABC News reported.

Mr Castro has said Cuba will not waver from its 57-year-old revolution and government officials have said the US needs to end its economic embargo and return the Guantanamo Bay naval base before normal relations can be restored.

Mr Obama has urged Congress to end the 54-year-old embargo, but has been rejected by the Republican leadership.

Instead he has used his executive authority to loosen restrictions on trade and travel with the Caribbean island.

On Sunday, Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca said: "We think the US government can take more steps to send clear and direct signals in this direction."

The two leaders met during a regional summit in Panama in April last year, as well as at Nelson Mandela's funeral in 2013 and the UN General Assembly in September.