Google and Obama Administration Connect Over Cuba

When President Barack Obama was working secretly to restore diplomatic and business relations with Cuba two years ago, he got some help from an unlikely place. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and other company executives, with encouragement from the White House, traveled to Havana in June 2014 to talk with the Cuban government about the benefits of Internet access. When he returned, Schmidt called for an end to the trade embargo. The White House didn’t tell Google about the secret negotiations with Cuba. But by the time President Obama announced that December the US would restore diplomatic ties, Google had established a toehold in the island nation by rolling out versions of its popular search engine and other Internet offerings.