President Obama Announces Major Changes In US/Cuba Policy
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Following the release of American Alan Gross from Cuban prison, President Barack Obama made historic changes to US-Cuban policy after becoming the first president since the Eisenhower administration to speak directly to a Cuban leader.
Back then Cuba's leader was dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Click here to watch Eliott Rodriguez's report.
President Obama's announcement, seconded by Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana, was accompanied by a quiet exchange of the three jailed spies in Florida and the release of 65-year-old Alan Gross, held in Cuba for five years.
The policy change will be the most significant changes to Cuba policy in 50 years.
"These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked," Obama declared at the White House. "It's time for a new approach."
The policy shift was the culmination of secret talks between the US and Cuba that included a series of meetings in Canada. Pope Francis was also involved in the discussion.
Gross was released on the same day as Pope Francis' 78th birthday on Wednesday.
Obama spoke as Castro was addressing his nation in Havana, where church bells rang and school teachers paused lessons to mark the news. Castro said that while the U.S. and Cuba remain at odds on many matters, "we should learn the art of living together in a civilized manner in spite of our differences."
The historic changes announced Wednesday are sweeping: He aims to expand economic ties, open an embassy in Havana, send high-ranking U.S. officials including Secretary of State John Kerry to visit, and review Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The U.S. also is easing restrictions on travel to Cuba, including for family visits, official government business and educational activities. But tourist travel remains banned.
WATCH WEB EXTRA: President Obama Announces Major Shift In Cuba Relations
Obama and Castro spoke by telephone Tuesday for nearly an hour, the first presidential-level call between their nations' leaders since the 1959 Cuban revolution and the approval of a U.S. economic embargo on the communist island that sits just 90 miles off coast of Florida.
"Yesterday, I spoke with Raul Castro to finalize Alan Gross's release and the exchange of prisoners, and to describe how we will move forward. I made clear my strong belief that Cuban society is constrained by restrictions on its citizens. In addition to the return of Alan Gross and the release of our intelligence agent, we welcome Cuba's decision to release a substantial number of prisoners whose cases were directly raised with the Cuban government by my team. We welcome Cuba's decision to provide more access to the Internet for its citizens, and to continue increasing engagement with international institutions like the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross that promote universal values," said President Obama.
The two men are also expected to meet at a regional summit in Panama next spring.
Despite President Obama's announcement, the embargo has yet to be lifted as it was passed by Congress and only lawmakers can revoke it. That appears unlikely to happen soon given the largely negative response to Obama's actions from Republicans who will take full control of Capitol Hill in January.
"Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom - and not one second sooner," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "There is no 'new course' here, only another in a long line of mindless concessions to a dictatorship that brutalizes its people and schemes with our enemies."
The Vatican said Pope Francis "welcomed the historic decision taken by the governments of the United States of America and Cuba to establish diplomatic relations, with the aim of overcoming, in the interest of the citizens of both countries, the difficulties which have marked their recent history."
Under the changes announced Wednesday, licensed American travelers to Cuba will be able to return to the U.S. with $400 in Cuban goods, including tobacco and alcohol products worth less than $100 combined. This means the long-standing ban on importing Cuban cigars is over, although there are still limits.
Early in his presidency, Obama allowed unlimited family visits by Cuban-Americans.
The financial impact on Cuba is unclear, though some American businesses welcomed the prospect of expanding into a new market. Tom Donahue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said his organization stands "ready to assist as the Cuban people work to unleash the power of free enterprise to improve their lives."
Gross's 2009 imprisonment became a challenge for Obama in regards to his desire to open ties with the island. Gross was detained while working to set up Internet access for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which does work promoting democracy in the communist country. Cuba considers USAID's programs illegal attempts by the U.S. to undermine its government, and Gross was tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
READ: Alan Gross Released From Cuban Prison After 5 Years
Last spring, Obama secretly authorized two of his senior advisers to hold exploratory conversations with Cuba about securing Gross' release. Over a series of nine clandestine meetings in Canada and the Vatican, the talks expanded to include broader discussions of normalizing relations.
Pope Francis raised the issue with Obama when the U.S. president visited the Vatican in March. And in early summer, the pontiff sent separate letters to Obama and Castro urging them to end their decades-long freeze.
READ: Politicos React To Release Of Alan Gross, Change In Cuba Policy
The details of the prisoner releases and policy changes were largely finalized during a meeting at the Vatican last fall.
Wednesday morning, Gross boarded a U.S. government plane and flew out of Cuba, accompanied by his wife and three U.S. lawmakers. Waiting for him on board were big bowls of popcorn and a corned beef sandwich on rye.
CLICK HERE to watch Jim DeFede's report
"This is game changing," Gross declared in brief, emotional remarks later in Washington. He flashed a broad grin with missing teeth — lost during his imprisonment — after taking an admiring glance at the American flags posted behind him and taking note that his release came on the first day of Hanukkah.
The two nations also released spies that they were holding.
The Castro government released a Cuban spy who had spent nearly 20 years in prison after working for the United States and accessing closely held intelligence information at the highest levels of the Cuban government. U.S. officials said the spy was responsible for some of the most important counterintelligence prosecutions that the United States has pursed in recent decades, including convicted Cuban spies Ana Belen Montes, Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Myers and a group known as the Cuban Five.
In exchange for the spy's release, the U.S. freed the three remaining members of the Cuban Five who were jailed in Florida. The men, who are hailed as heroes in Cuba, were part of the "Wasp Network" sent by Cuba's then-President Fidel Castro to spy in South Florida.
Two of the five were previously released after finishing their sentences.
U.S. officials said Cuba was taking some steps as part of the agreement to address its human rights issues, including freeing 53 political prisoners and allowing greater Internet access on the island.
Obama said he continued to have serious concerns about Cuba's human rights record but did not believe the current American policy had been advancing efforts to change the government's behavior.
"I do not believe we can keep doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result," he said.
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