By : Alan Yuhas in New York
Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the restoration of full relations between the United States and Cuba, along with a raft of reconciliatory actions. Obama said the US and Cuba have chosen “to cut loose the shackles of the past”, and Castro called for the embargo to end.
Cuba released American Alan Gross from prison after nearly five years of captivity. Cuba also freed a spy held for more than 20 years, an act the US intelligence chief called “a fitting closure to a Cold World chapter”.The US announced overhauls to commerce, travel and internet restrictions, and the restoration of an American embassy in Havana. Cuba said it will release 53 political prisoners, allow greater internet services, and work with international groups like the UN. The White House refused to rule out a visit by President Obama to Havana.
The US will free three Cubans convicted of espionage-related charges in 2001, members of the so-called Cuban Five and Wasp Network. Castro hailed their freedom as a fulfillment of his brother Fidel’s declaration that “they will return.”
Pope Francis and Canada revealed roles facilitating the talks. The pontiff praised Cuba for having recently relaxed its economic policies and quietly cooperating in backroom meetings over the past year or so.
Alan Gross thanked the president and said ordinary Cubans deserve no blame for his imprisonment or health problems. He urged both the US and Cuba to rescind their
“belligerent policies”.
Congressional leaders and presidential hopefuls lashed out at the president for “vindicating a dictator”. Obama requires Congress to lift the embargo, but faces factions in both parties unhappy with renewed relations.Visibly moved and grateful, Alan Gross urged the US and Cuba to end their mutually “belligerent policiesHow does a new era of US-Cuban relations affect the average American?
Travel rights are being expanded for the 12 categories of people who could already travel to Cuba with either a general or specific license. Now, people visiting family, traveling for school, journalism, research, humanitarian projects and other reasons covered under those categories only need to acquire a general license, which does not require permission or advance notification to US officials.
However, if you want to go just to be a tourist, the previous restrictions remain in place. That means getting to Cuba in the same way people have been for the past few decades – by traveling through a different country. Of course, that’s illegal.
But what if you do get into Cuba? What can you bring back?
US travelers who acquire one of the two licenses required for travel can now import $400 worth of goods from Cuba – no more than $100 of which can be alcohol and tobacco products, combined. Previously, no goods of Cuban origin could be brought into the US. If you go without one of the licenses, you cannot bring back anything.
“The benefactors of President Obama’s ill-advised move will be the heinous Castro brothers,” writes Jeb Bush, former Florida governor, brother of former president George W, and possible presidential contender in 2016.
Bush has released a statement expressing how “delighted” he is about Alan Gross’ release and how utterly appalled he is by diplomacy with Cuba.
The Obama administration’s decision to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba is the latest foreign policy misstep by this president, and another dramatic overreach of his executive authority. It undermines America’s credibility and undermines the quest for a free and democratic Cuba.
The benefactors of President Obama’s ill-advised move will be the heinous Castro brothers who have oppressed the Cuban people for decades.
I am delighted that Alan Gross has been released. It will be a joy and relief for his wife and family to have him home this Hanukkah season. He is innocent and should never have been in prison in the first place, nor spent five long years there as he suffered in poor health. It is, however, unfortunate that the United States chose to release three convicted spies.
A unilateral, indefinite ceasefire has been declared by Farc – the Colombian rebel group with which Cuba has been critical in mediating talks.
In recent years the group has declared ceasefires around the holidays, but never with the phrase “that should turn into an armistice” included in the press release.
We don’t know whether the breakthrough in US talks somehow caused a diplomatic ripple that affected negotiations with Farc, but journalist Daniel Coronell writes “there are no coincidences. This release by Farc was made today in Havana, Cuba.”
Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the restoration of full relations between the United States and Cuba, a historic rapprochement after 50 years of frozen terms.
FRENCH VERSION
