#Washington: The United States and Cuba had move forward on Wednesday after a half-century of #ColdWar acrimony to restore diplomatic relations.
It had been speculation that this move will become a historic shift that could revitalize the flow of money and people across the narrow waters that separate the two nations.
The announcement of #UnitedStates #President #BarackObama in #Washington which was seconded by #Cuban #President #RaulCastro in Havana was accompanied by a quite exchange of imprisoned spies and the celebratory release of #American #AlanGross, 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 US President #Obama without Congress’ authorization as he charts the waning years of his presidency.
In #WhiteHouse, Obama declared, “These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked… It’s time for a new approach.”
Obama spoke as Castro was addressing his nation in #Havana, where church bells rang and school teachers pause 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 plan of US President 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 #JohnKerry 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.
On Tuesday, Obama and Castro spoke by telephone for nearly an hour. It had been regarded as 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.
It had been expected that both leaders will meet at a regional summit in Panama next spring.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio said, “Relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized, until the Cuban people enjoy freedom — and not one second sooner. 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.”
An overwhelming response had been given around the world over the move of US and Cuba.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called Obama’s action “a gesture that was courageous and historically necessary.”
He said that 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.”
Earlier Obama had allowed unlimited family visits by Cuban-Americans.
Bureau Report
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