Latin America & Caribbean
In photos: After Obama's visit, Cubans still waiting for change
Six months after the president's historic visit to the island, most Cubans are still waiting to see any concrete benefit from the trip.
Six months on, most Cubans are still waiting to see any concrete benefit from President Obama's historic trip to the island.
Pablo Cozzaglio
Many Cubans still refer to Obama's visit optimistically as a watershed moment that at the very least marked an irreversible improvement in relations between the two countries.
Pablo Cozzaglio
Cruise ships are now arriving in Cuba from the United States for the first time in half a century.
Pablo Cozzaglio
As American tourists stepped off a cruise ship from Miami recently, photos were taken and a few dollars exchanged, a scene unthinkable even a few months ago.
Pablo Cozzaglio
There is no question after the Obama visit that Cuba has turned its sights on the United States as a lifeline for its economy.
Pablo Cozzaglio
Rusbelt Quignon, 37, said: “People made high expectations that when Obama came everything would open up completely. It’s not like that."
Pablo Cozzaglio
While many Cubans privately harbor strong feelings bordering on anger about the need for improvements to their quality of life, in public they tend to be more stoic about the pace of change.
Pablo Cozzaglio
Besides the tourism sector, it's also been pretty slim pickings for U.S. corporations looking to invest in Cuba.
Pablo Cozzaglio
Most of the tourists coming to Cuba hail from Europe or Latin America, but some say more and more Americans are showing up.
Pablo Cozzaglio
“We thought they would come quickly and so far we haven’t seen any changes,” said Yosel Betancourt, a 37-year-old bicycle taxi driver in a t-shirt and shorts hunting for clients to offer a ride in Havana’s Central Park.
Pablo Cozzaglio
“At the end of the day what people need is for the doors that are closed to open so that the people can have a better life. That’s what we want,” said Betancourt, who complained he didn’t have the money to buy his daughter a backpack and water bottle for the new school year.
Pablo Cozzaglio
“Before Obama arrived the conservative forces were trying to delay the process. They didn’t like Obama’s visit at all,” said Carlos Alzugaray, a retired Cuban diplomat in Havana.
Pablo Cozzaglio
There’s a saying in Cuba that there are only two seasons, “summer and hell.”
Pablo Cozzaglio
At this time of year Havana’s unrelenting heat and humidity, broken only by torrential thunderstorms, is always a test of patience for a long-suffering population mostly not equipped with air conditioning.
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