Secretive White House meeting reveals Obama’s plan to visit Havana in 2016

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The White House declined to talk about the meeting, and referred questions about the meeting to the State Department. (AP

HAVANA,  July 28   A secretive White House meeting on Cuba last week revealed that President Obama plans to visit the island nation early next year, and also discussed the controversial idea of the Cuban government opening consular offices in Miami.

After hailing embassy openings in Washington and Havana last week, the White House held an off-schedule, private meeting on Thursday with U.S. officials involved in the administration’s Cuba policy.
Nearly 80 activist members of the Cuban-American community from Florida and across the United States — mostly Democrats — were also there.Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s closest advisers, was on hand, along with White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes and Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of State for the western hemisphere.

The White House declined to talk about the meeting, and referred questions about the meeting to the State Department. A State Department spokesman then referred the same questions to the Cuban embassy, which was already closed for the day.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/secretive-white-house-meeting-reveals-obamas-plan-to-visit-cuba-in-2016/article/2569085