HAVANA — President Barack Obama on Tuesday made a full-throated plea for Cuba's autocratic government to change, calling on President Raúl Castro to loosen his grip on the economy and political expression or risk squandering the fruits of a historic thaw.
Likening the United States and Cuba to long-estranged brothers struggling to break free from a bitter past, Obama invoked the conflicted history of U.S. imperialism, Cuban revolution and Cold War isolation that has long divided the two nations.
"I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas," Obama said on the stage of the Grand Theater of Havana, the same building where Calvin Coolidge, the last sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba, spoke 88 years ago. "I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people."
Speaking directly to Castro, who watched from a balcony in the ornate Spanish colonial-style hall, Obama said the United States had no intention of imposing its economic or political principles on Cuba. But he also called on the Cuban president to embrace the kinds of changes he has long resisted.
"I want you to know, I believe my visit here demonstrates that you do not need to fear a threat from the United States," Obama said. "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."
The speech was a striking element on the final day of a three-day presidential visit packed with extraordinary firsts: a U.S. president speaking directly to Cuba's people, in remarks that were broadcast live, as Cuba's own president looked on.
It came a day after the two leaders had another remarkable encounter, holding frank talks at the Palace of the Revolution and then spending 55 minutes answering questions from the news media. Obama prodded Castro, clearly uncomfortable being placed on the spot by journalists, to engage in a give-and-take that is a hallmark of U.S. democracy.
"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," Obama said in his speech on Tuesday, addressing the Cuban people. "I can't force you to agree, but you should know what I think."
Obama visited Cuba to cement a policy shift toward normalization that he hopes will outlast his presidency. He was accompanied by more than three dozen members of Congress who support the policy and several business leaders eager to take advantage of it through new commercial deals.
But he made clear in the speech that the engagement could not be successful unless Cuba evolves, opening its economy and its political system.
"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," Obama said. "If you can't access information online, if you cannot be exposed to different points of view, you will not reach your full potential, and over time the youth will lose hope."
Obama drew loud applause, including from Castro, and a standing ovation when he said he had asked Congress to rescind the trade embargo with Cuba, proclaiming that it was time to "leave behind the ideological battles of the past."
At other points, including when Obama spoke passionately about the virtues of democracy, much of the audience sat silent, though there were short bursts of applause in pockets of the hall.
Obama hopes to make the opening with Cuba a part of his legacy, akin to Richard Nixon's 1972 trip to China. Tuesday's speech drew comparisons to Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where he famously challenged the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to "tear down this wall."
Obama put a twist on that comparison, quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to invoke the "fierce urgency of now" in appealing to a new generation.
"Many suggested that I come here and ask the people of Cuba to tear something down," Obama said. "But I'm appealing to the young people of Cuba who will lift something up, build something new."
Throughout Obama's visit, a dynamic of cautious warmth pervaded his interactions with Castro, including when the younger U.S. president appeared to coach the older Cuban through his first genuine news conference on Monday.
At the end of his speech on Tuesday, Obama, 54, made a point of silently mouthing "Thank you" to Castro, 84.
The speech appeared to have been well received by many here.
Alejandro Trelles Shaw, a retired counterintelligence officer, watched the speech at home. A 50-year-old photo of him with Castro's older brother Fidel was perched on a nearby shelf.
"I liked it," Trelles said. "I liked all of it. There was nothing I didn't like. There's communication between him and Raúl, and that's fundamental."
Trelles, 77, said die-hard communists like him were happy to see the two countries inching closer.
Obama may have left crucial issues out — like how money corrupts U.S. elections, Trelles said — but his discourse on issues that matter to the Cuban people went over well. The president's words came across as a sincere and humble sermon that addressed unpopular topics without being overly preachy or demanding, Trelles said.
"This system is not going to change even if Raúl and Fidel die — it's well planted," he said. "Social justice was sown here, and Obama has that — the human side."
Trelles watched the president's speech with his son-in-law, Gabriel Hernández Porras, 28, who recently gave up a life in Havana to start a farm.
The generational divide was deep. Hernández explained to his father-in-law that young people had given up on the revolution and on every political party. They wanted dishwashers, and cars to ride to school in.