President Barack Obama has arrived in Cuba for a historic visit to the island and talks with its communist leader.
He is the first US president to visit since the 1959 revolution, which heralded decades of hostility.
“Looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people,” he tweeted on arrival.
Mr Obama will meet President Raul Castro, but not retired revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, and the pair will discuss trade and political reform.
The US president emerged smiling from Air Force One with First Lady Michelle and their daughters Sasha and Malia.
Protesters were arrested in the capital Havana just hours before Mr Obama arrived.
Police took away dozens of demonstrators from the Ladies in White group, formed by wives of political prisoners, from outside a church where they attempt to hold weekly protests.Correspondents say the visit marks a huge turnaround in US-Cuban relations.
It is hard to overstate the significance of this trip because as recently as 18 months ago, the idea of a US president setting foot on Cuban soil would have been unthinkable, the BBC’s North America editor Jon Sopel says