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Obama moves to
normalize relations with Cuba as American is released by Havana
During
his announcement on Wednesday, President Obama said a transformation of
relations with Cuba would bring opportunities for both countries. (AP)
By Karen
DeYoung and Brian Murphy December 17 at 1:37 PM
President Obama
announced sweeping changes to U.S. policy with Cuba on Wednesday, moving to
normalize relations with the island nation and tear down the last remaining
pillar of the Cold War.
Under the new
measures, the United States plans to reopen its embassy in Havana and
significantly ease restrictions on travel and commerce within the next several
weeks and months, Obama said. Speaking from the White House, he
declared that a half-century of isolation of the communist country “has not
worked.”
“It’s time for a new
approach,” he said.
The history-shaping
overtures come after more than 18 months of secret negotiations with the Cuban
government of President Raul Castro. The final touches appeared to be
arrangements for a series of simultaneous prisoner releases.
Cuba agreed to
release Alan Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development
contractor imprisoned for five years, on humanitarian grounds. The Cubans also
released an unnamed U.S. intelligence asset held for two decades, and in
exchange U.S. officials released three Cuban nationals convicted of spying in
2001.
After
being imprisoned in Cuba for five years, USAID contractor Alan Gross arrived
home in the U.S. on Wednesday. He thanked President Obama for working to ensure
his freedom, and said he is looking forward to celebrating "the best
Hanukkah." (AP)
Gross, a Maryland
resident, left Cuba aboard a U.S. military aircraft Wednesday morning,
accompanied by his wife and several members of Congress and arrived at Joint
Base Andrews. The Cubans landed in Havana. The unidentified asset was flown
separately to the United States.
“What a blessing it
is,” Gross said at a hastily arranged news conference in Washington. “Thank you
President Obama for everything you have done today and leading up to today.”
Although Obama has
the power to establish diplomatic relations, the move was the latest in a
series of steps he has taken to use executive powers to circumvent legislative
opposition — and one that drew a sharp reactionfrom GOP lawmakers.
In a hard-edged
appraisal of U.S. policies, Obama also noted that decades of embargoes and
isolation against Cuba failed to topple its communist system and at times
spilled back against U.S. interests in the region…
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