Ignoring calls to echo Ronald Reagan’s famous “tear down this wall” speech in Berlin, President Obama drew another leaf from the cold war playbook and focused instead on the role of capitalism in transforming society from within.
“Many suggested that I came here to Cuba to tear something down, but I am appealing to the young people to lift something up,” Obama told a handpicked audience of 1,000 in the Havana theatre that hosted the last US president to speak in the country, 88 years ago.
Although calling for free elections and an end to the detention of dissidents, Obama’s trip has focused heavily on the growth of small business in Cuba as a sign of internal momentum for change that can circumvent political stalemate.
“We have a clear example of what the Cuban people can build, it’s called Miami,” he said in Tuesday’s televised speech. “Being self-employed is not about becoming more like America, it’s about being more like yourself.
“What changes come will depend on the Cuban people, we will not impose our political or economic system upon you … But having removed the shadow from our relationship, I must speak honestly about the things we believe,” added Obama.
The speech, watched by the Cuban president, Raúl Castro, and many government officials as well as US-invited guests, was received politely, with most applause reserved for Obama’s call on Congress to fully end the trade embargo.
“It is time to lift the embargo, but even if we lifted it tomorrow, Cubans would not realise their potential without more freedom to open a business.”
A smiling Castro left the theatre to chants of “Cuba! Cuba!” from many in the audience, who gave him a longer and more coordinated ovation when he entered the theatre.
The message will be seen as more palatable to the Cuban leadership than the full-throated attack on political repressions that some activists had hoped for.
Watching the speech on a vintage television set at her home in Havana, pro-democracy activist Alier González scoffed at the president’s description of a “new era” for Cuba.
“So we are in a new era with the same old dictator? That’s a total contradiction!
“That was a speech that will perpetuate the dictatorship. He didn’t challenge them. He didn’t mention the word ‘opposition’ even once,” she said.
González, whose husband, the dissident Antonio Rodiles, was detained at a peaceful protest on Sunday, said the tone of Obama’s visit had been “naive”. “We need stronger action, not weak words,” she said.
But Obama stuck to the upbeat tone he has adopted throughout this controversial trip, insisting that long-term, irreversible changes are afoot that few politicians can get in the way of.
“I have come here to bury the last remnant of the cold war in the Americas,” said Obama. “To extend a hand of friendship.
“Our grandchildren will look back on this period of isolation as an aberration.”
Obama appealed to the shared bonds of history and culture between the two countries, describing the US and Cuba as “two brothers that have been estranged for many years”.
“We both live in a new world, colonized by Europeans. Cuba was in part built by slaves who were brought from Africa,” he said. “Like the United States, Cuba can trace her heritage to both slaves and slave owners.”
Reflecting his attempts to reset relations with Latin America, he said called for a new sense of unity, breaking into Spanish to say: “Todos somos americanos” – we are all Americans.
His use of that word will have particular resonance for Latin Americans who resent what they see as the US appropriation of a term which applies to all people of the Americas.
He even accepted the validity of some of Castro’s attacks on America’s own civil rights problems and lack of guaranteed healthcare, also acknowledging local fears of a US corporate invasion once trade restrictions are finally lifted.
“Before 1959, some Americans saw Cuba as something to be exploited. I know the history but I refuse to be trapped by it,” said Obama.
Though desperately poor, many ordinary Cubans remain suspicious of US economic intent, especially in a country where there is no McDonald’s, no Starbucks and no Coca-Cola.
American credit cards do not work, and tourists hoping the US dollar is the preferred currency get a rude awakening when they are charged high fees to change them into pesos.
“There is one word that identifies our country since 1868 and that is independence,” said the concierge at one of the luxury hotels frequented by Americans in old Havana.
“It is as simple as that. Maybe it will be a good thing that McDonald’s doesn’t open. It will be the first step towards our death,” he said.
Obama seems well aware of such sentiment, calibrating his speech to avoid causing offence and trying instead to inspire.
“Part of Cuba’s identity is in being a small island nation that can stand up for its rights and stand out in the world. [But] Cuba doesn’t have to be defined as being against the United States.”
After the speech, Obama and the secretary of state, John Kerry, met a group of dissidents, including Rodiles, at the US embassy, where he said that there are still “deep differences” with the Cuban government on issues of freedom and democracy.
Praising the activists for their “extraordinary courage”, Obama said: “My hope is that by listening and hearing from them that we can continue to refine our policy in such a way that ultimately the Cuban people are able to live freely and prosperously.”
Berta Soler, the leader of the Ladies in White – who consist of wives and relatives of former political prisoners – said most of the activists who participated were in favour of the visit and the rapprochement process.
“There was a diversity of opinion,” she told the Guardian. Soler, who was arrested and beaten alongside Rodiles at Sunday’s protest, said that Obama should have raised the subject of arbitrary arrests with Castro.
“He should have been more forceful in condemning the repression and the violence against us,” she said.
Outside Obama’s speech however, the US visit is, as far as the Cuban public is concerned, a virtually private affair, witnessed by the world’s media and the Cuban elite but not ordinary citizens of the capital.
Because there is no internet in the city outside the luxury hotels and special “Wi-Fi parks”, few in Havana seem to know much of Obama’s schedule this morning other than that their city centre is in complete lockdown.
An army of volunteers was operating a human barrier at a six-block radius from Parque Central, site of another symbolic speech on this three-day trip.
It means nobody, apart from those who live in the old city, will get to see anything other than Obama’s lengthy convoy speeding down the ocean-hugging boulevard, the Malecón.
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