coast of cuba. but controversy as well. this pope will not be meeting with dissidents, anyone who opposes the castro government. so he has drawn criticism for that as well. steve, it s julie. i want to ask about the speck traitors. thousands of journalists are covering this and giving this worldwide attention. journalists in cuba in the past didn t necessarily have the voice and the freedom to report on such a monumental story on this. tell us about the presence that you are seeing there. reporter: i think this is something that cuba wants the world to see. this is a real feather in the cap of this communist government. it is showing what they hope is is to be some tolerance. and it s something that they want to get on the world stage. cuba is just 11 million people. yet they have had three papal visits really outside gesture to
so this pope is not afraid to mix it up with politics as well as bring faith and interject faith into the component of discussing this. reporter: kelly, you re right. he is coming at an incredible time to mix it up. he is coming in a u.s. election cycle. certainly it is going to be hard for him to avoid stirring it up quite a bit. you re right also to point out cuba s economic difficulty. they were able to resist making amends for the u.s. for the past 50 years. cuba at this point needs an economic life line. they got help from the soviet union in the 90s. help from venezuela. they are getting help from nobody now and they are running short on cash. in part, the motivation to open up relations with the u.s. is one of basic necessity. cuba needs to open up and needs trade and tourism from the u.s. to stay afloat.
they are talk building how he is so grateful to welcome the pope to his country. and he s also talking about the sacrifice that has to be made. obviously talking about the history between cuba and the rest of the world and seeing the pope there obviously making a huge impact. let s listen a little more. i ll translate. [speaking foreign language] he s talking about the unity and having the pope coming to cuba and the relations that this ties between not only cuba, the united states and the rest of the world.
to. to try to feed their children and live on this island without some would consider basic necessities like air-conditioning. it is a tough go for the cuban. it is is a sense both from the cuban government, however distasteful it might be to many, this pope is one of their own. this pope has attacked the excess of capitalism. i think the fact that he is from argentina, a native spanish speaker, has made him feel to many cubans like he is one of their own. and him bringing a sense of mercy and kindness here. there is hope. i think in the longer term view, cubans, to some degree, and i don t mean to sound cynical, have seen it before. they have seen two papal visits and in the past 17 years not a lot of dramatic improvement in the basic lifestyle of the cubans. many who are getting along on $25 a month.
this is the third pope to come to cuba. some may be impatient. exactly. to your point, you would arguably be correct. they have seen two papal visits in the past where things did not change. but now that relationships between the united states and cuba are falling. and we re seeing some people reaching out to each other. that might change things. and this papal visit could help further that given the fact that the pope will visit cuba and then come to the united states where he will meet with president obama and talk to the members of congress. so we may see some change in cuba that people are longing for. reporter: i think you re right, kelly. you re right to link the two events. we had a dramatic change in the relationship with the united states. you had for the first time in 50 years, embassies reopen just this summer. and i think that gave people a real sense of hope.