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This R&D covers President Barack Obama’s visit last week to Cuba.  The visit was the first time that an American president visited the island nation in eighty-eight years.  Cuba has had strained relations with the United States since former President Fidel Castro overthrew the dictatorship of General Fulgencio Batista in 1959.  The Obama administration has taken gradual steps to dismantle the American embargo, a move that has been criticized by elements of both major parties.