Obama announces historic revamp of US-Cuba relations

In addition to the release of Gross, three Cubans were freed from a U.S. jail.

In explaining the plan to begin normalizing relations with Cuba, Obama said, “Isolation has not worked. It’s time for a new approach.

“I believe this contact will do more to empower the Cuban people,” said the president, who had spoken with Castro on Tuesday.

Cuban President Raul Castro spoke to his nation at the same time Wednesday, saying, “We have decided to re-establish diplomatic relations” with the U.S.

Castro said, “This decision by President Barack Obama deserves respect and recognition by our people,” but he also called for a complete end to the U.S. economic blockade.

Senior Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said talks for Gross’ release lasted about a year, with significant involvement by the Vatican. Both Obama and Castro thanked Pope Francis for his role in the negotiations.

Embargo

Obama said he plans to ease the wide-ranging economic embargo the United States has used against Cuba for decades.

In responding to Obama, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said, “Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom – and not one second sooner. … If anything, this emboldens all state sponsors of terrorism. …”

However, Boehner said he felt “great joy and relief for Alan Gross and his family.”

U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said the U.S. and Cuba were moving toward normalized banking and trade ties. He also said the U.S. was poised to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months.

“This is going to do absolutely nothing to further human rights and democracy in Cuba,” Rubio said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But it potentially goes a long way in providing the economic lift that the Castro regime needs to become permanent fixtures in Cuba for generations to come.”

It is Cuba’s human rights record that had kept the administration from moving to strengthen relations and possibly ease or lift the embargo.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker, who will lead the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Congress, said Wednesday he wanted to know more about what Cuba would do in return for any shift in U.S. policy and will “closely examine” the issue.

Several other senators who take a harder line on Cuba’s Communist government, including Democrat Robert Menendez, have strongly denounced plans for changes in U.S. policy and the exchange of Cuban prisoners for Gross.

Corker will replace Menendez as chairman of the panel when the new Republican-majority Senate is seated next month.

Restrictions

Obama had taken some steps to ease U.S. restrictions on Cuba after Raul Castro took over as president in 2010 from his ailing brother, Fidel. Obama has sought to ease travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in Cuba but has resisted calls to drop the embargo.

Steps by Obama toward normalizing relations with Cuba could stir opposition from some sectors of the large community of Cuban exiles, who have traditionally been politically well connected and well financed.

Immediately following Obama’s speech, Cuban Americans and other Latin Americans in Miami, Florida, had mixed feelings toward the news.

However, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he “heartily welcomes” moves by Cuba and American leaders to begin to mend relations between the two nations.

The United States imposed a trade embargo against Cuba in 1960, and the two countries have not had official diplomatic relations since 1961. The U.S. enacted the embargo shortly after Communists took over the island, seized U.S. property, and began a series of human rights violations.

Obama has authority to unilaterally gut the trade embargo against Cuba and allow U.S. citizens to travel freely to the island. His State Department can remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that carries with it further economic sanctions.

Gross to speak

The plane carrying Gross landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland Wednesday shortly after 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).

Gross, now 65, had been arrested by Cuba on December 3, 2009. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) subcontractor was later convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for importing banned technology and trying to establish clandestine Internet service for Cuban Jews.

An official, who wanted to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told Radio Marti that Gross had been released on humanitarian grounds.

His wife, Judy, said in a recent interview that Gross was becomingly increasingly despondent. His wife said in a statement earlier this month that Gross has lost more than 100 pounds, can barely walk due to chronic pain, and has lost five teeth and much of the sight in his right eye.

Gross will make a short statement in Washington at 1:30 p.m. (1830 GMT), according to a statement from his lawyer’s representatives.

A Department of Justice official said later Wednesday that three former Cuban intelligence agents have been transferred to Cuba after Obama commuted their sentences.

Justice spokesman Brian Fallon said Luis Medina, Gerardo Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero had been released from custody and flown to Cuba.

The three were part of the so-called Cuban Five, who were convicted for spying on anti-Castro exile groups in Florida and monitoring U.S. military installations and have spent more than 15 years in U.S. prisons.

Some material for this report came from Reuters, AFP and AP.