News reports from Havana

By Calvin Hughes – Anchor , Hatzel Vela – Reporter , Andrea Torres From Local 10 ABC Miami

HAVANA – Lazaro Vives lives in Havana, where he says he and his family struggle with poverty. He said he is hopeful about President Barack Obama’s visit to the island Sunday and gets emotional just thinking about what it means for his country.

The 47-year-old said that although he feels free to talk to Local 10 News, his economic situation is dire. Vives is one of the many Cubans who hope that Obama’s loosening of the U.S. embargo will help to improve their quality of life on the communist island.

Vives said Cubans in Miami who are criticizing the renewed diplomatic ties already have their financial situation in order. But the Cubans on the island who are struggling with scarcity, Vives said, are in need of change.

“I suffer daily when I cannot bring home food,” Vives said.

The historic trip will help Obama establish his new policy of engagement with the communist regime. But it remains to be seen if the changes end up benefiting Cubans in need like Vives, or the Cuban government, which manages the country’s enterprises.

A mix of the desperation that Vives described and fear prompted a massive Cuban exodus. Cuban officials want the U.S. to put an end to the special immigration status that allows Cubans to get on a path to U.S. citizenship once they reach U.S. soil.

Some are traveling through dangerous jungles and facing criminals in South and Central America. Others are venturing off to the Florida Straits or other islands in the Caribbean. Just this week, the U.S. Coast Guard reported nine Cuban migrants died.

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship rescued 18 who said they were at sea for 22 days and were suffering from severe dehydration. Authorities in Puerto Rico detained 11 Cubans. And U.S. Customs and Border Protection found 11 Cubans on Mona Island.

The number of Cuban migrants who are dying on their way to the U.S. when no one is watching remains a mystery.

But the world will be watching when Obama steps off Air Force One Sunday onto a red carpet at José Martí International Airport in Havana. The first U.S. African-American president will be the first in his office to visit Cuba since President Calvin Coolidge stepped off a battleship in 1928

Obama will be shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro, as he did in Panama last year.

“The Cold War has been over for a long time,” Obama said during their historic first face-to-face meeting. “I’m not interested in having battles that frankly started before I was born.”

During his two-day trip, Obama will take the time to listen to Cubans’ grievances and will meet with dissidents, according to The White House.

On Saturday, the White House released a video of a non-threatening Obama chatting with a Cuban comedian and using slang. It portrayed the U.S. president as a friend of the Cuban people. But some human rights activist said the Cuban government may not be as friendly.

Human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez told the Los Angeles Times that Cuban authorities were ordering dissidents not to meet with Obama. U.S. officials offered Sanchez and others help to get to the meeting, and Sanchez said they were determined to attend.

For more on this story and video go to: http://www.local10.com/news/cuba/cubans-in-havana-hopeful-about-obamas-visit