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Live Coverage of President Obama's Remarks from Cuba; Terror Attacks in Brussels. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 22, 2016 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:29:54] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want the Cuban people, especially the young people, to understand why I believe that you should look to the future with hope, not the false promise which insists that things are better than they really are, or the blind optimism that says all your problems can go away tomorrow.

Hope that is rooted in the future that you can choose, and that you can shape and that you can build for your country. I'm hopeful because I believe that the Cuban people are as innovative as any people in the world.

In a global economy powered by ideas and information, a country's greatest asset is its people. In the United States, we have a clear monument to what the Cuban people can build -- it's called Miami. Here in Havana, we see that same talent in (SPEAKING SPANISH), cooperatives, and old cars that still run. (SPEAKING SPANISH)

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Cuba has an extraordinary resource, a system of education which values every boy and every girl.

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And in recent years, the Cuban government has begun to open up to the world and to open up more space for that talent to thrive. In just a few years, we've seen how (SPEAKING SPANISH) can succeed while sustaining a distinctly Cuban spirit. Being self- employed is not about becoming more like America, it's about being yourself.

Look at Salidad Ledisez Aldan (ph), who chose to start a small business. Cubans, she said, can innovate and adapt without losing our identity. Our secret is not in copying or imitating, but simply being ourselves. Look at Papito Buydelez (ph), a barber whose success allowed him to improve conditions in his neighborhood.

I realize I'm not going to solve all the world's problems, he said, but if I can solve problems in the little piece of world where I live, it can ripple across Havana. That's where hope begins, with the ability to earn your own living and to build something you can be proud of. That's why our policies focus on supporting Cubans instead of hurting them.

That's why we got rid of limits on remittances, so ordinary Cubans have more resources. That's why we're encouraging travel, which will build bridges between our people and bring more revenue to those Cuban small businesses. That's why we've opened up space for commerce and exchanges so Americans and Cubans can work together to find cures for diseases and create jobs and open the door to more opportunity for the Cuban people.

As president of the United States, I've called on our Congress to lift the embargo.

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It is an outdated burden on the Cuban people. It's a burden on the Americans who want to work and do business or invest here in Cuba. It's time to lift the embargo. But, even if we lifted the embargo tomorrow, Cubans would not realize their potential without continued change here in Cuba.

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It should be easier to open a business here in Cuba. A worker should be able to get a job directly with companies who invest here in Cuba. Two currencies shouldn't separate the type of salaries that Cubans can earn. The Internet should be available across the island so that Cubans can connect to the wider world and to one of the greatest engines of growth in human history.

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There's no limitation from the United States on the ability of Cuba to take these steps. It's up to you. I can tell you as a friend that sustainable prosperity in the 21st century depends on education, health care, and environmental protection. But it also depends on the free and open exchange of ideas. If you can't access information online, if you cannot be exposed to different points of view, you will not reach your full potential.

[10:35:09] And over time, the youth will lose hope. I know these issues are sensitive, especially coming from an American president. Before 1959, some Americans saw Cuba as something to exploit: ignored poverty, enabled corruption. And since 1959, we've been shadow boxers in this battle of geo-politics and personalities.

I know the history, but I refuse to be trapped by it.

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I've made it clear that the United States has neither the capacity nor the intention to impose change on Cuba. What changes come will depend upon the Cuban people.

We will not impose our political or economic system on you. We recognize that every country, every people must chart its own course and shape its own model. But having removed the shadow of history from our relationship, I must speak honestly about the things that I believe, the things that we as Americans believe.

As Marti said, "Liberty is the right of every man to be honest, to think and to speak without hypocrisy." So, let me tell you what I believe. I can't force you to agree. But you should know what I think.

I believe that every person should be equal you should under the law.

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Every child deserves the dignity that comes with education, health care and food on the table, and a roof over their heads.

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I believe citizens should be free to speak their mind without fear.

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To organize and to criticize their government and to protest peacefully, and that the rule of law should not include arbitrary detentions of people who exercise those rights.

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I believe that every person should have the freedom to practice their faiths peacefully and publicly.

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And yes, I believe voters should be able to choose their governments in free and democratic elections.

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Not everybody agrees with me on this, not everybody agrees with the American people on this. But I believe those human rights are universal.

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I believe they are the rights of the American people, the Cuban people, and people around the world.

Now, there's no secret that our governments disagree on many of these issues. I've had frank conversations with President Castro. For many years he's pointed out the flaws in the American system. Economic inequality, the death penalty, racial discrimination, wars abroad.

That's just a sample. He has a much longer list.

(LAUGHTER) But here's what the Cuban people need to understand. I welcome this open debate and dialogue. It's good. It's healthy. I'm not afraid of it. We do have too much money in American politics, but in America, it's still possible for somebody like me, a child who was raised by single mom, a child of mixed race who did not have a lot of money to pursue and achieve the highest office in the land.

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That's what's possible in America.

We have do have challenges with racial bias in our communities and criminal justice system and our society, the legacy of slavery and segregation. But the fact that we have open debates within America's own democracy is what allows us to get better.

In 1959, the year that my father moved to America, it was illegal for him to marry my mother, who was white, in many American states. When I first started school, we were still struggling to desegregate schools across the American South.

But people organized. They protested. They debated these issues, they challenged government officials. And because of those protests and because of those debates and because of popular mobilization, I'm able to stand here today as an African American and as president of the United States. That was because of the freedoms that were afforded in the United States, that we were able to bring about change.

[10:40:11] I'm not saying this is easy. There's still enormous problems in our society. But democracy is the way that we solve them. That's how we got health care for more of our people. That's how we made enormous gains in women's rights and gay rights. It's how we addressed the inequality that concentrates so much wealth at the top of our society, because workers can organize and ordinary people have a voice. American democracy has given OUR people the opportunity to pursue their dreams and enjoy a high standard of living.

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Now, there's still some tough fights. It isn't always pretty, the process of democracy. It's often frustrating. You can see that in the election going on back home. But just stop and consider this fact about the American campaign that's taking place right now.

You had two Cuban Americans in the Republican party running against the legacy of a Black man who was president while arguing that they're the best person to beat the Democratic nominee, who will either be a woman or a democracy socialist.

Who would have believed that back in 1959? that's a measure of our progress as a democracy.

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So here's my message to the Cuban government and the Cuban people. The ideals that are the starting point for every revolution: America's revolution, Cuba's revolution, the liberation movements around the world. Those ideals find their truest expression, I believe, in democracy. Not because American democracy is perfect, but precisely because we're not. And we, like every country, need the space that democracy gives us to change. It gives individuals the capacity to be catalysts, to think in new ways and to reimagine how our society should be and to make them better. And there's already an evolution taking place inside of Cuba, a generational change.

Many suggested that I come here and ask the people of Cuba to tear something down. But I'm appealing to the young people of Cuba who will lift something up, build something new.

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(SPEAKING IN SPANISH)

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And to President Castro, who I appreciate being here today. I want you to know, I believe my visit here demonstrates that you do not need to fear a threat from the United States. And given your commitment to Cuba's sovereignty and self-determination, I'm also confident that you need not fear the different voices of the Cuban people and their capacity to speak and assemble and vote for their leaders.

In fact, I am hopeful for the future, because I trust that the Cuban people will make the right decisions.

And as you do, I'm also confident that Cuba can continue to play a important role in the hemisphere and around the globe. And my hope is, is that you can do so as a partner with the United States. We've played very different roles in the world. But no one should deny the service that thousands of Cuban doctors have delivered for the poor and suffering.

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Last year, American health care workers and the U.S. military worked side by side with Cubans to save lives and stamp out Ebola in West Africa. I believe we should continue that kind of cooperation in other countries.

We've been on the different side of so many conflicts in the Americas, but today, Americans and Cubans are sitting together at the negotiating table and we are helping the Colombian people resolve the civil war that has dragged on for decades.

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That kind of cooperation is good for everybody. It gives everyone in this hemisphere hope.

[10:45:02] We took different journeys to our support for the people of South Africa in ending Apartheid, but President Castro and I could both be there in Johannesburg to pay tribute to the legacy of the great Nelson Mandela.

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And in examining his life and his words, I'm sure we both realized we have more work to do to promote equality in our own countries, to reduce discrimination based on race in our own countries.

And in Cuba, we want our engagement to help lift up the Cubans who are of African-American descent, who have proven there's nothing they cannot achieve when given the chance.

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We've been a part of different blocks of nations in the hemisphere, and we will continue to have profound differences about how to promote peace, security, opportunity, and human rights, but as we normalize our relations, I believe it can help foster a greater sense of unity in the Americas, (SPEAKING SPANISH).

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From the beginning of my time in office, I've urged the people of the Americas who leave behind the ideological battles of the past. We are in a new era. I know that many of the issues that I've talked about lack the drama of the past, and I know that part of Cuba's identity is its pride in being a small island nation that could stand up for its rights and shake the world.

But I also know that Cuba will always stand out because of the talent, hard work, and pride of the Cuban people. That's your strength.

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Cuba doesn't have to be defined by being against the United States any more than the United States should be defined by being against Cuba.

And I'm hopeful for the future, because of the reconciliation that's taking place among the Cuban people. You know, I know that for some Cubans on the island, there may be a sense that those who left somehow supported the old order in Cuba.

I'm sure there's a narrative that lingers here, which suggests that Cuban exiles ignored the problems of pre-Revolutionary Cuba and rejected the struggle to build a new future.

But I can tell you today that so many Cuban exiles carry a memory of painful and sometimes violent separation. They love Cuba. A part of them still considers this their true home. That's why their passion is so strong, and that's why their heartache is so great.

And for the Cuban American community that I've come to know and respect, this is not just about politics. This is about family, the memory of a home that was lost, the desire to rebuild a broken bond, the hope for a better future, the hope for return and reconciliation.

For all of the politics, people are people, and Cubans are Cubans. And I've come here, I've traveled this distance on a bridge that was built by Cubans on both sides of the Florida straits.

I first got to know the talent and passion of the Cuban people in America. And I know how they have suffered more than the pain of exile. They also know what it's like to be an outsider and to struggle, and to work harder to make sure that their children can reach higher in America.

So the reconciliation of the Cuban people, the children and grandchildren of revolution and the children and grandchildren of exile, that's fundamental to Cuba's future.

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You see it in Gloria Gonzales, who traveled here in 2013 after 62 years of separation and was met by her sister, Llorca. "You recognized me, but I didn't recognize you," Gloria said after she embraced her sibling. Imagine that after 61 years.

[10:50:08] You see it in Melinda Lopez, who came to her family's old home. And as she was walking the streets, an elderly woman recognized her as her mother's daughter and began to cry. She took her into her home and showed her a pile of photos that included Melinda's baby picture, which her mother had sent 50 years ago.

Melinda later said, "So many of us are now getting so much back." You see it in Christian Miguel (inaudible), a young man who became the first of his family to travel here after 50 years. And meeting relatives for the first time, he said, "I realize that family is family no matter the distance between us." Sometimes, the most important changes start in small places. The tides of history can leave people in conflict, and exile and poverty. It takes time for those circumstances to change, but the recognition of a common humanity, the reconciliation of people bound by blood and a belief in one another, that's where progress begins. Understanding, and listening and forgiveness.

And if the Cuban people face the future together, it will be more likely that the young people of today will be able to live with dignity and achieve their dreams right here in Cuba.

The history of the United States and Cuba encompass revolution and conflict, struggle and sacrifice, retribution and now reconciliation. It is time now for us to leave the past behind. It is time for us to look forward to the future together.

(SPEAKING IN SPANISH) And it won't be easy and there will be setbacks. It will take time. But my time here in Cuba renews my hope and confidence in what the Cuban people will do. We can make this journey as friends and as neighbors and as family, together. Si se puede. Muchos gracias. Thank you.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama speaking to a packed house in Havana, Cuba. The leader, Raul Castro attending as well.

Jim Acosta is with the president in Havana. Joins us now as we wrap this up. We'll shortly return to the ongoing situation in Brussels, Belgium.

Jim, the president talked a little bit about the terror attack in Brussels initially saying that we all have to stand together. Also saying his thoughts and prayers are with the people of Belgium and that he stands in solidarity and is a reminder that we all must do whatever it takes to defeat the scourge of terrorism.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Anderson.

It was only about a minute out of this 40 or 50-minute speech that the president addressed the terror attacks in Belgium. We should point out that the president as far as we are being told right now is going to be heading on to Argentina to complete this trip into Latin America over the next couple of days, and, you know, people might be asking, Anderson, why is the president continuing on with this trip?

You talk to White House officials about this. Here we go with the president traveling overseas and yet the specter of terrorism is hanging over his presidency, hanging over his trip. But what the White House will say is that he has Air Force One. He has trappings of the presidency. He can stay in contact with top counter terrorism officials 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are others who might say well, why doesn't the president go immediately over to Brussels, Belgium?

To answer that question in advance, I've heard this one before from White House officials. They'll say, listen, the president cannot just go to a breaking news situation with the security footprint that comes with the president of the United States. It is just too massive and too disruptive and would get in the way of the first responders there in Belgium. So to sort of pre-answer a couple of those questions that people might be asking about why the president is doing what he's doing, that is essentially what the White House will say once that question is asked.

COOPER: Right.

ACOSTA: But no question about it, Anderson. You know, this is the president of the United States. Once again, with the specter of terrorism, international terrorism hanging over his foreign policy, you know, the president has said time and again that he is doing everything that the United States can do to go after these terrorists in Iraq and in Syria. But once again, we're seeing, you know, the ramifications of when ISIS is not fully defeated, ISIS is not fully pounded, and you have people like Donald Trump already trying to exploit the situation politically.

[10:55:01] He was immediately on the air waves this morning saying that perhaps we should rethink our relationship with NATO. We should point out the president talked to the prime minister of Belgium earlier this morning, and emphasized in that conversation with the prime minister of Belgium that the United States must continue to cooperation with NATO. So the president taking a subtle swipe at that line of thinking from Donald Trump, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jim Acosta. Jim, thanks very much.

We are just getting some new video in of the aftermath of the attacks at the airport. Twin explosions. Let's listen.

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COOPER: All right. That is the latest video that we have as events have progressed over the last several hours. We have been getting new information. We're going to take a short break. Our coverage continues at this hour with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. That's going to start right after this short break.

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