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Wednesday 17 December 2014

Obama says US restoring ties with Cuba (five decades after diplomatic relations were severed)

The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba more than 50 years after they were severed, US President Barack Obama has said, just hours after Havana announced it had released a US aid worker who had been jailed for five years in Cuba.

"Today the US is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba. We'll begin to normalise relations between our two nations. Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter," said Obama.


The US president said he had spoken to his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on Tuesday about arrangements to release US aid worker Alan Gross, who was arrested in 2009 in Cuba and jailed for five years, on humanitarian grounds.

US media reported a prisoner exchange that also included Cuba releasing a US intelligence source and the US releasing three Cuban intelligence agents.

Obama said he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to immediately initiate discussions with Cuba on the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, which were severed in 1961.

"In the coming months, we will re-establish an embassy in Havana and carry out high-level exchanges and visits between our two governments as part of the normalisation process," Obama said.

"As an initial step, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs will lead the US Delegation to the next round of US-Cuba Migration Talks in January 2015, in Havana."

Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said the trade embargo imposed on Cuba after ties were severed can only be lifted by Congress. 

"Senior administration officials tell me they don't think Congress is going to lift the embargo. We have seen several members of Congress come out and call the president's moves 'outrageous'," she said.
Cuban President Raul Castro said he welcomed the restoration of relations with the US.
In a nationally broadcast speech, the Cuban leader said profound differences remained between Cuba and the US in areas such as human rights, foreign policy and questions of sovereignty, but he said the two nations have to learn to live with their differences "in a civilised manner".................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/12/cuba-releases-us-aid-worker-alan-gross-20141217142522855301.html
17/12/14
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1 comment:

  1. Cuba's Raul Castro urges US to lift trade embargo ...

    Cuban President Raul Castro has urged the US to end its trade embargo after the two countries opened formal talks on restoring diplomatic relations.

    He said the five-decade embargo "caused enormous human and economic damage".

    But only the US Congress has the power to lift the embargo, and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.

    On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama and Mr Castro agreed a number of measures to improve ties.

    They included the release by Cuba of US contractor Alan Gross and three Cubans held in the US.

    Relations between the US and Cuba have been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke off diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo after Cuba's revolution led to communism.

    But in unprecedented moves on Wednesday, Mr Obama said the "rigid and outdated policy" of isolating Cuba had clearly failed.

    He said economic reforms were still needed in Cuba and human rights there needed to be upheld. But he said it was time for a new approach................http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30526694
    18/12/14

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