File Photo of Us President Barack Obama.
US President Barack Obama departed Washington Wednesday on his way to be the first president in decades to visit Jamaica before heading to Panama for a possible landmark meeting with Cuba's leader.
Obama is scheduled to arrive in Kingston later Wednesday for a meeting with the 15-member CARICOM Caribbean bloc the following day.
He will be the first sitting US president to visit the island since 1982. Obama is scheduled to meet the Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller whose government is dealing with a fiscal crisis.
Obama is expected to discuss alternatives to cheap Venezuelan oil with the Caribbean nations as tensions have heightened between Washington and Caracas.
The president will depart for Panama late Thursday for a meeting of regional nations.
The Panama visit could see a meeting with Cuban president Raul Castro, following a warming of ties between the long-time rivals in December.