The Latest: Rural Cubans plan travel to see pope

Hundreds of people are planning to take buses or trains across long, winding route through Cuba's rural heartland to see Pope Francis appear in Havana to the west or Holguin and Santiago to the east.

Many say they want the pope to pressure the U.S. to lift the trade embargo on Cuba, which many Cubans blame for economic woes that are more dire in the countryside than in the more connected cities.

In the sugarcane-farming town of Taguasco, Marisela Hernandez says she things the papal visit "is going to bring us good things."

The 52-year-old worker in a glasses store says people in the U.S. "need to know that the embargo is hurting our economy."

The Cuban government has launched a citywide effort to bring crowds into the streets of Havana.

Participants almost universally praise the pope's role in mediating detente between the United States and Cuba, saying they hope his visit to the two countries will accelerate the process of normalization.