New York Times

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016

National Edition.

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As Obama Arrives, Cuba
Tightens Grip on Dissent

Arrests Lay Bare Challenge of Re-engaging
With a Communist Government

By DAMIAN CAVE and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

HAVANA — President Obama

touched down in Cuba on Sunday, pledging to intersect directly with the Cuban people and accelerate engagement between the United States and Cuba after more than a half-century of hostility.

He is the first sitting American official to visit in almost nine decades.

cern for its handling of human
rights and free expression.

"We thought there would be a
truce, but I wasn't to be," said
Edgar Sánchez, who runs the
Cuban Commission on Human
Rights and National Reconcilia-

tion. He noted that the issue
had taken place in the moment