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| Alan Gross, waves as he and his wife Judy leave following his statement at his lawyer's office in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014. Gross was released from Cuba after 5 years in a Cuban prison. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- After a half-century of Cold War acrimony, the United States and
Cuba moved on Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations - a historic
shift that could revitalize the flow of money and people across the
narrow waters that separate the two nations.
President
Barack Obama's dramatic announcement in Washington - seconded by Cuban
President Raul Castro in Havana - was accompanied by a quiet exchange of
imprisoned spies and the celebratory release of American Alan Gross, a
government contract worker who had been held in Cuba for five years.
The
shift in U.S.-Cuba policy was the culmination of 18 months of secret
talks between the longtime foes that included a series of meetings in
Canada and the personal involvement of Pope Francis at the Vatican. It
also marked an extraordinary undertaking by Obama without Congress'
authorization as he charts the waning years of his presidency.
"These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked," Obama declared at the White House. "It's time for a new approach."
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."
Obama's plans for remaking U.S.
relations with Cuba 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.
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. The two
men are also expected to meet at a regional summit in Panama next
spring.
Obama did not rule out traveling to
Cuba before his presidency ends, telling ABC News: "I don't have any
current plans to visit Cuba, but let's see how things evolve."
Despite
Obama's declaration, the Cuba embargo 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
response from around the world was far more welcoming, particularly in
Latin America, where the U.S. policy toward Cuba has been despised.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called Obama's action "a gesture that was courageous and historically necessary."
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."
In Cuba, a sense of euphoria
spread through Havana as people gathered around televisions to watch the
Obama and Castro announcements.
"For the
Cuban people, I think this is like a shot of oxygen, a wish come true,
because with this, we have overcome our differences," said Carlos
Gonzalez, a 32-year-old information technology specialist.
Half
a century ago, the U.S. recognized Fidel Castro's new government soon
after his rebels took power from dictator Fulgencio Batista. But before
long things began to sour as Cuba deepened its relationship with the
Soviet Union. In 1961 the U.S. broke diplomatic relations, and then came
the failed U.S.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion meant to topple Castro. A
year later a U.S. blockade forced removal of Soviet nuclear missiles
from Cuba in a standoff that brought the world to the brink of nuclear
war.
Since then, the number of Americans who
see Cuba as a serious threat has declined. A 1983 CNN/Time poll found 29
percent considered Cuba a very serious threat. That dipped to 13
percent in 1994 and 12 percent in 1997.
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 Donohue,
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."
While
Obama has long spoken of his desire to open ties with Cuba, the 2009
imprisonment of Gross, an American government subcontractor, became a
major obstacle. 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.
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.
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.
"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.
