HAVANA, Cuba (CBSMiami) — Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal touched down in Cuba as an official emissary of the United States in an effort to strengthen ties between the two nations.
O’Neal hosted a basketball clinic for kids on the Havana courts as part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored mission to open up people-to-people exchanges with Cuban citizens and to “demonstrate how sports can serve as a means of developing academic, leadership, and teamwork skills,” the State Dept. said in a press release.
Shaq’s visit is meant to build “on the momentum of President Obama’s historic March trip to Cuba.