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All of the individuals around this table have shown extraordinary courage.

Obama also met at the U.S. Embassy here with 13 of the most prominent political dissidents on the island, including Jose Daniel Ferrer and Elizardo Sanchez, who favor normalization, and Antonio Rodiles and Berta Soler, who have said the United States has reached out to Cuba but gotten nothing in return.

“All of the individuals around this table have shown extraordinary courage,” Obama said before the closed-door session began.

Before they sat at down, the dissidents were invited to dip their hands in red, white or blue paint and apply them to a work of art that formed the outline of both countries’ flags. The interactive work was donated by Cuban artist Michel Morabal, who gave a similar one to the Cuban Embassy in Washington.

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The newly-renovated theatre where Obama gave his address, a relatively intimate setting ringed with gold-filigreed balconies, was crammed with influential Cubans invited by their government, as well as President Raul Castro and other senior officials. The Americans had issued invitations to members of Congress, business figures and Cuban Americans who came here with Obama.

At times the audience was a study in contrasts. “I believe citizens should be free to speak without fear,” the president said, as the Americans clapped and the local Cubans sat in stony silence.

Obama began by expressing condolences to victims of the bombing in Brussels and a pledge to continue the fight against the Islamic State.