Associated Press

HAVANA

Capping his remarkable visit to Cuba, President Obama on Tuesday declared an end to the “last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas” and openly urged the Cuban people to pursue a more democratic future for this communist nation 90 miles from the Florida coast.

With Cuban President Raul Castro watching from a balcony, President Obama said the government should not fear citizens who speak freely and vote for their own leaders. And with Cubans watching on tightly controlled state television, President Obama said they would be the ones to determine their country’s future, not the United States.

“Many suggested that I come here and ask the people of Cuba to tear something down,” President Obama said. “But I’m appealing to the young people of Cuba who will lift something up, build something new.”

On the streets of Havana, the president’s address sparked extraordinarily rare public discussions about democracy, and some anger with Cuba’s leaders. Cubans are used to complaining bitterly about economic matters but rarely speak publicly about any desire for political change, particularly in conversations with foreign journalists.

Juan Francisco Ugarte Oliva, a 71-year-old retired refrigeration technician, said the American president “dared to say in the presence of the leaders, of Raul Castro, that (Cubans) had the right to protest peacefully without being beaten or arrested.”

Omardy Isaac, a 43-year-old who works in a gift shop, said, “Cubans need all of their rights and I am in favor of democracy.”

Later, President Obama sat beside President Castro at a baseball game between Cuba’s beloved national team and the Tampa Bay Rays of America’s Major League Baseball. President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, joined President Castro and others in doing the wave around the stadium during the game.

Leaving the game early for Jose Marti International Airport, President Obama was met there again by President Castro who walked him to Air Force One, where he boarded and departed for a two-day visit to Argentina.

The two leaders chatted in relaxed fashion, any awkwardness or tension apparently gone from the previous day’s news conference that saw President Castro hit with tough questions from U.S. reporters.

How quickly political change comes to Cuba, if at all, is uncertain. But the response from at least some Cubans was certain to be seen by President Obama as validation of his belief that restoring ties and facilitating more interactions between Cuba and the United States is more likely than continued estrangement to spur democracy.

“What the United States was doing was not working,” President Obama said. He reiterated his call for the U.S. Congress to lift the economic embargo on Cuba, calling it an “outdated burden on the Cuban people” — a condemnation that was enthusiastically cheered by the crowd at Havana’s Grand Theater.

The president’s visit was a crowning moment in his and President Castro’s bold bid to restore ties after a half-century diplomatic freeze. While deep differences persist, officials from both countries are in regular contact, major U.S. companies are lining up to invest in Cuba and travel restrictions that largely blocked Americans from visiting have been loosened.

After arriving Sunday, President Obama plunged into a whirlwind schedule that blended official talks with President Castro and opportunities to soak in Cuba’s culture. He toured historic sites in Old Havana in a rainstorm, ate at one of the city’s most popular privately owned restaurants and joined a big crowd for Tuesday’s baseball game.

The fans roared as President Obama and his family entered the stadium, which underwent an extensive upgrade for the game. President Castro joined the Obama family and sat alongside the president behind home plate — one of several moments from the President Obama’s trip that would have been barely imaginable just months ago.

President Obama also met Tuesday with about a dozen dissidents, praising them for showing “extraordinary courage.” The group included journalist Miriam Celaya, attorney Laritza Diversent and activists Manuel Cuesta and Jose Daniel Ferrer.

The White House said the meeting was a prerequisite for President Obama in coming to Cuba. Yet the gathering did little to appease those who say he hasn’t gotten enough human rights concessions from the Castro government to justify the American economic investment expected to pour into the island.

President Obama’s last day in Cuba was shadowed by the horrific attacks in Brussels, where scores of people were killed in explosions at the airport and a metro station. The president opened his remarks by vowing to do “whatever is necessary” to support Belgium.