Cuban woman who invited Obama for coffee is thrilled to get a reply from the ... Obama 'most certainly. -President's reply was on first mail flight from US to Cuba since 1959

Photo: AP
Ileana Yarza, 76, centre, surrounded by her family in her Havana home, holds a letter Obama wrote to her 

   Ileana Yarza, 76, wrote to the President saying she was eager to meet him
    Obama said in his letter back he hoped to enjoy a cup of coffee with her

  Read Obama's letter after the cut ....

  His letter 'flew to' on first direct mail flight since the 1959 Cuban revolution
Barack Obama has written to a Cuban pensioner after she invited him to her Havana home in one of the first letters to travel directly from the USA to the country in decades.

Ileana Yarza, 76, wrote to the President on February 18, saying 'there are not many Cubans so eager as I to meet you in person' and asked him to have a strong cup of Cuban coffee with her sometime. 

Obama wrote back that 'hopefully, I will have time to enjoy a cup of Cuban coffee' when he visits Havana on Sunday.

Photo: White House/ReutersObama wrote back that 'hopefully, I will have time to enjoy a cup of Cuban coffee' when he visits Havana

His letter flew to Cuba on Wednesday on the first direct mail flight since the 1959 Cuban revolution. 

Ileana said she was 'pleasantly surprised' by the response. 

The White House published the letter yesterday and she had  been waiting for relatives to arrive to open it.

She said she began writing to Obama during his first presidential campaign demanding the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

The retired economist speaks and writes fluent English thanks to a private school education in American-run schools.

She said she was 'charmed' by Obama's 'gentlemanliness'.

'If I had the opportunity to see him I would say "I admire you, I respect you, and I think you've done something very important,"', she added. 

OBAMA'S LETTER TO ILEANA ON FIRST FLIGHT FROM US TO CUBA

Dear Ileana,

Thank you for your kind words

I appreciate your support over the years, and I hope this note – which will reach you by way of the first direct mail flight between the United States and Cuba in over 50 years – serves as a reminder of a bright new chapter in the relationship between our two nations.

I am looking forward to visiting Havana to foster this relationship and highlight our shared values – and, hopefully, I will have time to enjoy a cup of Cuban coffee.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Photo: AP
Ileana opens the letter for the first time, she had written to Obama in February saying 'there are not many Cubans so eager as I to meet you in person'

Photo: White House
Obama's letter flew to Cuba on Wednesday on the first direct mail flight since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Photo: AP
President Barack Obama stands with Cuba's President Raul Castro before a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in September

'I'd love to show him and his wife my house.'  

Cuban state press say the mail service was stopped after a letter bomb was sent from New York to Cuba in 1968. 

US officials contest this and argue the service ended after the Cuban revolution.  

William LeoGrande, an American University expert on U.S.-Cuba relations, said he believed the Cuban version was correct. 

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