Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter began a three-day visit to Cuba on Monday on a mission to help ease tensions between Washington and Havana and he is likely to talk about the release of an imprisoned U.S. contractor.
Carter and his wife Rosalynn made a low-key arrival at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport where they were greeted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and other government officials.
Carter, who visited Cuba in 2002 and became the highest-ranking U.S. politician to set foot on the island since the triumph of the 1959 revolution, is expected to visit the headquarters of Cuba's Jewish Community of Cuba on Monday, and then meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Havana.
On Tuesday, he is scheduled to hold talks with President Raul Castro.
Carter and Cuban leaders would discuss troubled bilateral ties, Cuba's economic reforms and the upcoming Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, the Carter Center said Friday.
According to the Carter Center, the trip will be a "private and non-governmental mission."
Meanwhile, some observers see Carter's visit as a chance to appeal for the release of U.S. contractor Alan Gross, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Havana for providing illegal Internet access to Cuban dissidents under a controversial U.S. program.
However, neither the Carter Center nor the Cuban authorities mentioned the case.