Thank You, Mr President! Google to Expand Internet Access in Cuba

US President Barack Obama said that Washington has loosened some of the embargoes imposed on Havana to allow information, financial, and tourism companies from the United States to start working on the island.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US-based Internet giant Google is expected to upgrade Internet access on Cuba, both via Wi-Fi and broadband connection, US President Barack Obama said Monday during his historic visit to the island.

The US president and Cuban leader Raul Castro are set to meet at Havana's Palace of the Revolution later on Monday amid the US-Cuban normalization process. The US leader arrived in the Cuban capital on Sunday, which became the first visit of a sitting US president to Cuba since Calvin Coolidge sailed into Havana aboard a US battleship in 1928.

"One of the things that we’ll be announcing here is that Google has a deal to start setting up more Wi-Fi and broadband access on the island and over time, if in fact, we start seeing access to the internet — which is necessary for Cuba to enter into the 21st century economically — invariably that gives the Cuban people more information and allows them to have more of a voice," Obama told the ABC News broadcaster.

According to the US president, Washington has loosened some of the embargoes imposed on Havana to allow information, financial, and tourism companies from the United States to start working on the island.

Relations between Washington and Havana began to improve after Obama announced in December 2014 a historic thaw in US-Cuba ties, including the loosening of US restrictions on travel and trade.