Second Lady Jill Biden visits Cuba for 3 days

Second Lady visits educational centers, watches soccer game

HAVANA – Second Lady Jill Biden was in Cuba after Hurricane Matthew destroyed homes in Baracoa and other eastern towns of the island. 

Josefina Vidal, the director of the Cuban Foreign Ministry's department of the United States, welcomed the Second Lady of the U.S. at José Martí International Airport in Havana on Thursday. 

Biden, a doctor of education married to Vice President Joe Biden, visited a teachers' school in Ciudad Libertad and a technical school in Old Havana. 

Biden also watched a soccer game between the U.S. and Cuba on Friday afternoon, and she was set to travel to the province of Camaguey.

Biden was also with two State Department officials -- Cathy Russell, ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues, and Evan Ryan, the assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs.

The historic visit is a sign of the two countries' effort to normalize relations since U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced their diplomatic efforts December 2014. 

Biden plans to travel from Cuba to the Dominican Republic on Sunday.


About the Authors

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

In January 2017, Hatzel Vela became the first local television journalist in the country to move to Cuba and cover the island from the inside. During his time living and working in Cuba, he covered some of the most significant stories in a post-Fidel Castro Cuba. 

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