奥巴马将于3月访问古巴 Barack Obama to visit Cuba

Barack Obama plans to visit Cuba next month in what would be the first trip to the island by a sitting US president in nearly 90 years.

美国总统巴拉克攠巴马(Barack Obama)计划下月访问古巴，这将是近90年来在任美国总统首次访问这座岛屿。

A US official confirmed that Mr Obama would travel to Cuba in March, just 15 months after his landmark decision to normalise relations with the island after five decades of hostility and diplomatic estrangement between the US and the regimes of Fidel and Raúl Castro. The last sitting US president to visit Havana was Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

一名美国官员证实奥巴马将于3月前往古巴，离奥巴马决定与古巴关系正常化仅隔了15个月，这一里程碑式的决定结束了美国与劳尔愠斯特罗(Raúl Castro)和菲德尔愠斯特罗(Fidel Castro)政权长达五十年的敌对关系与外交隔阂。上一任访问哈瓦那的在任美国总统是卡尔文柯立芝(Calvin Coolidge)，时间是1928年。

The proposed visit, first reported by ABC News, came under immediate attack from several Republican presidential contenders, including the two Cuban-American senators running for the White House.

美国广播公司(ABC News)首先报道了这一拟议中的访问，随后立即遭到几个共和党(Republican)总统竞选者的攻击，其中包括两位竞选总统的古巴裔参议员。

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator whose parents fled to the US from the island, said he would only visit Cuba as US president once the country was free. “I’ll tell you the problem with the Cuban government: it’s not just a communist dictatorship, it is an anti-American communist dictatorship,” Mr Rubio said in South Carolina. “A year and two months after the opening of Cuba, the Cuban government remains as repressive as ever. But now, they have access to millions if not billions of dollars in resources that they didn’t have access to before this opening.”

佛罗里达州参议员马可脠比奥(Marco Rubio)的父母是从古巴逃至美国的，他表示如果作为美国总统访问古巴，他要等到这个国家自由时。鲁比奥在南卡罗来纳州表示：“我要告诉你古巴政府的问题，它不仅是共产主义专政政府，还是反美的共产主义专政政府。与古巴开始关系正常化一年零两个月后，古巴政府的压迫仍与以往一样。但现在他们有机会获得数百万，甚至数十亿美元的资源，这在此前是无法获得的。”

Ted Cruz, the Texas senator whose father immigrated from Cuba, also criticised Mr Obama, adding that he would not visit the island as president while either of the Castro brothers remained in power. “It’s a real mistake. I think the president ought to instead be pushing for a free Cuba,” said Mr Cruz, who added that Mr Obama had thrown the Castro regime a “lifeline” at a time when it was “on the ropes” because of weaker support from Venezuela due to collapsing oil prices.

得克萨斯州参议员特德克鲁兹(Ted Cruz)的父亲是古巴移民，他也批评了奥巴马，还表示如果作为总统，只要任何一位卡斯特罗兄弟还在位，他就不会访问这个国家。克鲁兹说：“这是个真正的错误。我认为奥巴马总统应该去推动古巴自由。”他表示由于委内瑞拉因油价崩溃而减小了对卡斯特罗政权的支持，该政权已经“快要垮掉”，正在此时奥巴马给他们抛了根“救生索”。

Jeb Bush, former Florida governor, said it “breaks my heart” that Mr Obama would visit the island. “It is a tragedy in my mind that we have diplomatic relations and the president is trying to build legacy,” said Mr Bush. “My hope is that Cuba will be free one day and that is when the president should be going there.”

佛罗里达州前州长杰布布什(Jeb Bush)表示，奥巴马将访问古巴“令我伤透了心”。“在我看来，跟古巴恢复外交关系是一场悲剧，而总统正努力打造他的遗产，”布什说。“我希望，古巴有朝一日将变成一个自由的国度，到那时美国总统才应当访问古巴。”

While the opening to Cuba has prompted fierce reaction from some Republicans, opinion polls suggest it is much less controversial among the public, including Cuban-Americans.

尽管对古巴开放在一些共和党人中间引起了强烈反响，但民意调查显示，此事在包括古巴裔美国人在内的公众看来，远远没有那么大的争议性。

As part of the re-establishment of ties, the US has relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba — including the restoration of direct commercial flights — and has opened the path to investments in sectors such as telecoms and the internet. But any further deepening of commercial relations with Cuba would require Congress to repeal the remaining laws that underpin the decades-old economic embargo. Penny Pritzker, US commerce secretary, called on Wednesday for Cuba to do more to open up its economy. “The US companies that are attempting to do business in your country continue to face challenges,” she told Cuban officials at a meeting in Washington between the two governments to boost economic ties.

为了重建关系，美国已放宽了对古巴的旅行限制——包括恢复直通商业航班——并且在电信和互联网等行业对古巴打开了投资的大门。但是，如果要深化两国商业关系，将需要国会废止那些仍在执行的在过去几十年对古巴实施经济禁运的法律。周三，美国商务部部长彭妮渠里茨克(Penny Pritzker)呼吁古巴采取更多措施开放本国经济。“努力在贵国经商的美国公司仍然面临着诸多挑战，”她在华盛顿召开的一次旨在提升双边经济关系的政府间会议上对古巴官员表示。

Mr Obama signalled in December that he might visit Havana. Asked then if his presence would reduce pressure for political reform in Cuba, he told Yahoo News: “If I go on a visit, then part of the deal is that I get to talk to everybody.”

去年12月，奥巴马表示，他或许会访问哈瓦那。那时，当被问及他的现身是否将减轻古巴实施政治改革的压力时，他告诉雅虎资讯(Yahoo News)：“如果我去访问古巴，我的目的之一就是跟所有人对话。”

“I’ve made very clear in my conversations directly with President [Raul] Castro that we would continue to reach out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free expression inside of Cuba.”

“我在跟古巴总统劳尔愠斯特罗的直接对话中已明确表示，我们将继续与那些想要扩大古巴国内言论自由边界的人士们进行接触。”