to abandon communism and build a quote, renewed and open society. mark potter joins us live in havana. i was watching your conversation. a fantastic conversation with andrea mitchell during her show live in havana talking about the number of americans that you ve seen, that you ve encountered during your trip this time around. reporter: well, that s exactly right. we used to come down here in years past even a year ago. we would be kind of lonely if we were seeking american company. that s not the case now. the hotels, the plaza behind me, the tourist locations, the restaurants are if i have with americans now. and that s again because of a change in american law, allowing them to come down here on tour packages. coming down here for the pope specifically are some ratted interesting americans. some cuban exiles who left this country after the revolution. they fled the revolution. many of them vowing never to return.
10,000 at one point from the sheer numbers and it is difficult, to get accurate numbers. and, in part because you don t want to go. because it is a volatile situation and at the moment, it depends really on which part of the city you are in, because there are pockets in different places and some people are turning from general protesters into violent protesters, and you have those who are sort of randomly becoming part of the criminal wandering bands as to be honest their mood changes, people are susceptible and volatile at the moment, in their moods at the moment. heather: and what about the volunteer evacuation of the u.s. citizens? reporter: that is due to start tomorrow, the first vai evacuations are made available and there are many people on tour packages and, there is a sense of panic we hear among