Barack Obama's visit to Cuba

In 2016, Cuba welcomed Barack Obama. He was the first president of the United States in ninety years to visit the island. Having lived and conducted anthropological research there, I had witnessed the effect of the American embargo on daily life, layered atop the difficulties the people already had to endure under their own regime. I was very curious to see the effect of this visit on the Cuban people, so I decided to travel back to Cuba and capture the presidential visit from a Cuban-Dutch perspective.

During the U.S. president’s visit, I was especially curious: if regular Cubans had the chance to speak with Barack Obama, what would they discuss with him? Where would they take him? Which parts of their city would they show, and what questions would they ask? To explore this, I asked a few Habaneros to pose in the places where they would take Obama if they had the opportunity.