Obama and Castro hail historic breakthrough for US-Cuba relations - as it happened

Havana and Miami – fewer than 200 miles away but worlds apart.

The US Speaker of the House, the Republican John Boehner, says “relations with the Castro regime should not be revisited, let alone normalized”, in a statement just released from his office.

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.

“If anything, this emboldens all state sponsors of terrorism, as they now have an even better idea of what the president meant when he once told Russian leaders he would have ‘more flexibility’ after his re-election.

“We have seen this before, and I fear we will see it again. Despite these reservations about the president’s changes in our policy toward this communist regime, we all feel great joy and relief for Alan Gross and his family.

“Americans do not forget our own, and we speak out today because we have a moral responsibility not to forget anyone anywhere who longs for liberty and dignity.”

Boehner, Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsay Graham and Democrat Bob Menendez have all indicated they will try to block a push to lift the embargo on Cuba.

Pope Francis has congratulated the US and Cuba in a statement from the Vatican, which also reveals the seat of Catholicism hosted talks between the nations. The statement reads:

The Holy Father wishes to express his warm congratulations for 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 recent months, Pope Francis wrote letters to the President of the Republic of Cuba, His Excellency Mr Raúl Castro, and the President of the United States, The Honorable Barack H Obama, and invited them to resolve humanitarian questions of common interest, including the situation of certain prisoners, in order to initiate a new phase in relations between the two Parties.

The Holy See received Delegations of the two countries in the Vatican last October and provided its good offices to facilitate a constructive dialogue on delicate matters, resulting in solutions acceptable to both Parties.

The Holy See will continue to assure its support for initiatives which both nations will undertake to strengthen their bilateral relations and promote the wellbeing of their respective citizens.

The release of a Cuban spy today represents a “fitting closure to this Cold World chapter of US-Cuban relations,” says James Clapper, US director of national intelligence in a statement.

Today, the United States secured the release of a Cuban individual from a Cuban prison who provided critical assistance to the United States. Information provided by this person was instrumental in the identification and disruption of several Cuban intelligence operatives in the United States and ultimately led to a series of successful federal espionage prosecutions.

This man, whose sacrifices were known only to a few, has spent nearly 20 years in a Cuban prison due to his efforts on behalf of the United States. While many details of this individual’s cooperation remain classified, with his release today we can now discuss some of his contributions to U.S. national security.

Clapper says the spy provided information that to the conviction of former intelligence analyst Ana Belen Montes, State Department official Walter Myers and Gwendolyn Myers, and the five members of the Wasp Network, three of whom were released today.

In light of his sacrifice on behalf of the United States, securing his release from prison after 20 years – in a swap for three of the Cuban spies he helped put behind bars – is fitting closure to this Cold World chapter of US-Cuban relations.

You can read the full statement here.

“We must learn the art of coexisting with our differences in a civilized manner,” Cuban President Raul Castro told his nation and Americans just an hour ago today, and we can know read a full transcript of his speech thanks to a new translation.

The transcript shows that Castro thanked Canada, the Vatican and the Cuban people for having achieved today’s steps. The speech reads in part:

The heroic Cuban people, in the wake of serious dangers, aggressions, adversities and sacrifices has proven to be faithful and will continue to be faithful to our ideals of independence and social justice. Strongly united throughout these 56 years of Revolution, we have kept our unswerving loyalty to those who died in defense of our principles since the beginning of our independence wars in 1868.

Today, despite the difficulties, we have embarked on the task of updating our economic model in order to build a prosperous and sustainable Socialism.

As a result of a dialogue at the highest level, which included a phone conversation I had yesterday with President Obama, we have been able to make headway in the solution of some topics of mutual interest for both nations.

President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people.

While acknowledging our profound differences, particularly on issues related to national sovereignty, democracy, human rights and foreign policy, I reaffirm our willingness to dialogue on all these issues.

You can read the full speech here as a Google Doc.

Pope Francis and Vatican diplomats worked to restore US and Cuban relations for more than a year, the Guardian’s John Hooper writes in a dispatch from Rome.

Accounts of the talks in Rome raised the question of whether this was a largely personal initiative by pope Francis, who has a record of by-passing the Holy See’s administrative machinery. But an informed source said Vatican diplomats had been working towards a re-establishment of relations between the US and Cuba for more than a year before the pope sent his letter to the two countries’ leaders.

The pope is said by sources close to the Vatican to hold the archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, in high regard and according to Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, the archbishop played a role in Alan Gross’s release.

Francis has twice this year had meetings in the Vatican with Ortega – on 5 April and again on 3 October. But most intriguing is a special appointment he conferred on the archbishop last summer.

Secretary of state John Kerry met with Vatican diplomats on Monday, which the papal state said mostly focused on efforts to close the US prison of Guantánamo Bay, also on Cuba.

The large Cuban population in Miami is “very unhappy with today’s developments”, Richard Luscombe writes from Florida.

A voluble and influential community there holds sway, and the state is perpetually a deciding factor in US presidential elections. While many in the younger generation of Cuban Americans support reconciliation, older Cuban Americans, some exiles and some with family who have bitter memories of the Castros, are voicing outrage.

For former governor Jeb Bush, a Republican interested in the 2016 presidency, the restoration of relations represents a major challenge. He called for the embargo to be strengthened on Tuesday in front of a group of Cuban exiles.

Marco Rubio, a Republican senator also looking at a run in 2016, immediately lambasted the president and reconciliation as a “failed attempt … to appease [a] rogue regime”.

But the generational shift may be too potent: besides changing attitudes among younger people, Hispanic Americans are increasingly of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, and like young Cuban Americans have little stake in the embargo.

The New York Times has published a long analysis of what this could mean in Florida, pointing out that Hillary Clinton may face the toughtest challenge.

Ana M. Carbonell, a Cuban-American Republican strategist in South Florida, said Mr. Obama’s move would place pressure on Hillary Rodham Clinton. “She’s going to have to make a serious evaluation about this and decide which side of history she wants to be on,” Ms. Carbonell said. Should Mrs. Clinton run for president, she said, her chances of winning Florida will suffer “unless she distances herself from this decision”

A summary of the key developments so far.

• Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the restoration of full relations between the United States and Cuba, a historic rapprochement will significantly open each country to the other. Obama described the changes as: “a new chapter among the nations of the Americas”. Castro said “the embargo must end”.

• Cuba released American Alan Gross from prison after nearly five years of captivity following his arrest on suspicion of espionage. Cuba also released an unidentified intelligence agent held there for more than 20 years, whom Obama called “heroic”.

• The US will return three Cubans convicted of espionage-related charges in 2001, members of the so-called Cuban Five and Wasp Network. Castro hailed the return as a fulfillment of his brother Fidel’s declaration: “they will return.”

• The diplomatic overhaul after decades of estrangement and embargo will restore an American embassy in Havana, ease travel, trade and internet restrictions, and review the US position that Cuba sponsors terror.

• Obama thanked Pope Francis for his help facilitating talks, and praised Cuba for having recently relaxed its strict economic policies and quietly cooperated in backroom talks over the past year or so.

• Alan Gross will deliver a statement at 1.30pm ET, alongside members of Congress who flew to Cuba to retrieve him. His health is in dire condition, his family and lawyer have said.

• Members of Congress have lashed out at the president for “vindicating a dictator”, and have signaled they will try to block any attempt to lift the economic embargo on Cuba. Obama requires Congress’ help to fully lift the embargo.
  

More has changed in Cuba – from car imports to baseball and travel – than in the US, the Guardian’s Jonathan Watts explains in a brief analysis of today’s news.

Raul Castro has showed pragmatism in introducing market reforms and greater openness after taking the mantle of the socialist state from his brother.

Much like the way China transformed itself after the death of Mao Zedong, Cuba has encouraged private enterprise to flourish by granting licenses for hundreds of new types of business. The streets of Havana are now filled with “paladar” restaurants and clothing shops and boarding houses that would not have been permitted five years ago.

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Farmers are permitted to buy their own supplies and lease unused state land. Controls on car imports have been eased. The labour market has also been loosened with a lifting of salary caps for workers, most notably in baseball - the sport that is loved with a passion on both sides of the border. Another big recent change was that Cuban TV stations were allowed to broadcast US Major League games.

Castro has also relaxed overseas travel so that more Cubans can leave without an exit visa. Computer and cell phone use is no longer illegal, prompting the spread - though still very limited - of internet rooms.

The US government meanwhile has come under intense pressure to ease the embargo it put in place during the height of the Cold War. At the United Nations, 188 nations, including every EU state, voted for the sanctions to be lifted. Regional organisations also repeat this message at every possible opportunity.

But recently, US leaders felt this external opprobrium was easier to bear than the domestic political cost of upsetting the anti-Cuba lobby in Florida. Now, however, the calculation has changed.

“This gives people hope of a new life in the new year,” an English teacher in Havana tells the Guardian’s Jonathan Watts.

The speeches by Raul Castro and Barack Obama were broadcast live on all channels in Havana. After watching, Frank Reyes, an English teacher expressed optimism about the changes that will follow:

“This gives people hope of a new life in the new year. I’m very happy. I was sure things would change, but I’m not young and sometimes I doubted that I’d see this day. Now my family and friends can start a new era. Little by little the door is opening. The US has been punishing the Cuban people for many years with its bad policy, but things will now change. We are neighbours. Now we can be friends. “

His 38-year-old son Fabian, the manager of a duty free store was just as upbeat.

“My whole life has been under the embargo. Now my life will change. Everything will change. This is the biggest step since the embargo was put in place in 1961. I’m happy. Life should get better.”

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