AKIPRESS.COM - President Barack Obama will visit Cuba in the coming weeks, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, making a historic trip in the final year of his presidency that will mark a turning point in U.S. relations with a long-time Cold War foe.

The White House plans to announce the visit on Thursday. The Cuba stop will be part of a broader trip to Latin America.

The visit to Havana by Obama would cap what administration officials see as one of his legacy foreign policy achievements: normalizing relations with Cuba and taking steps toward expanded commercial relations after a 54-year freeze, reports Reuters.

Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shocked the world in December 2014 by announcing the former adversaries would move to normalize relations.

A visit by Obama to Havana in late March would correspond with the finalization of a peace deal for Colombia that was encouraged and sponsored by Castro.

The Colombian government and the FARC rebel group are expected to finalize a peace deal by March 23 in Havana that would end a 50-year civil war in the South American nation.

Washington and Havana restored diplomatic ties in July but commerce remains limited by the U.S. trade embargo, which includes a ban on American tourism to the island.

On Tuesday, American and Cuban officials signed an arrangement to restore scheduled air services between the two countries after half a century.

The last and only sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba was Calvin Coolidge in 1928.