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US on speaking terms with Cuba

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US on speaking terms with Cuba Empty US on speaking terms with Cuba

Post  bb1 Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:26 pm

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/17/american-alan-gross-released-from-cuban-prison-official-says/

US, Cuba seek to normalize relations after Alan Gross released

The Obama administration is moving to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba, sources told Fox News, after American Alan Gross was released from the communist country Wednesday following five years in prison.

Sources say President Obama plans to announce the opening of a U.S. embassy in Havana and call on Congress to lift the long-standing embargo.

A senior Capitol Hill source said Obama also plans to take several executive actions, including expanding travel opportunities to the island, expanding agricultural products that can be sold, and raising the limit on remittances from $500 to $2,000.

Together, the announcements would mark the most significant shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island in decades. Obama was to announce the policy changes from the White House at noon Wednesday.

Cuban leader Raul Castro was expected to speak at the same time.

The announcement comes after Gross was freed, as part of an agreement that included the release of three Cubans jailed in the U.S. A senior Obama administration official told Fox News that Gross left Cuba on a U.S. government plane Wednesday morning. "Mr. Gross was released on humanitarian grounds by the Cuban government at the request of the United States," the official said.

Already, the rapid-fire developments are drawing a mixed response in Congress.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the move to re-establish diplomatic ties would do nothing to further the goal of democracy and freedom in Cuba.

"It's absurd and it's part of a long record of coddling dictators and tyrants," Rubio told Fox News, claiming the administration is "constantly giving away unilateral concessions ... in exchange for nothing." He also said Congress would not support lifting the embargo.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who like Rubio is a Cuban-American lawmaker, said this is a moment of "profound relief" for Gross and his family. But he voiced concerns that this constituted a "swap of convicted spies for an innocent American."

"President Obama's actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government," he said in a statement. "Trading Mr. Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous precedent. It invites dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips."

Other U.S. lawmakers hailed the agreement, and some even joined Gross on the plane ride to the U.S. -- Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., were on that flight.

The three Cubans released in exchange for Gross are part of the so-called Cuban Five -- a group of men who were part of the "Wasp Network" sent by Cuba's then-President Fidel Castro to spy in South Florida. The men, who are hailed as heroes in Cuba, were convicted in 2001 in Miami on charges including conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents in the U.S.

Two of the Cuban Five were previously released after finishing their sentences.

Obama administration officials, though, had considered Gross' imprisonment an impediment to improving relations with Cuba, and the surprise deal was quickly making way for rapid changes in U.S. policy.

In a statement marking the fifth anniversary of Gross' detention earlier this month, Obama hinted that his release could lead to a thaw in relations with Cuba.

"The Cuban Government's release of Alan on humanitarian grounds would remove an impediment to more constructive relations between the United States and Cuba," Obama said in a statement.

The president has taken some steps to ease U.S. restrictions on Cuba after Raul Castro took over as president in 2010 from his ailing brother. He has sought to ease travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in Cuba, but had resisted calls to drop the embargo.

The release follows years of desperate appeals by Gross and his family. His wife, Judy Gross, said earlier this year that she feared for his life, saying he might do "something drastic."

Gross was detained in December 2009 while working to set up Internet access as a subcontractor for the U.S. government's U.S. Agency for International Development, which does work promoting democracy in the communist country. It was his fifth trip to Cuba to work with Jewish communities on setting up Internet access that bypassed local censorship.

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.

The surprise prisoner swap has echoes of the deal the U.S. cut earlier this year to secure the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held by the Taliban. In exchange for his release in May, the U.S. turned over five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.


That should set the cat amongst the pigeons. Though it's good news for US cigar smokers and cruise line companies.
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Post  bb1 Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:27 pm

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-17/president-obama-normalizes-relations-cuba-opens-diplomatic-channels-usaid-chief-resi

And today, as Bloomberg reports,

White House says measures will “end our outdated approach,” promote change in Cuba consistent “with U.S. national security interests”

In coming mos., U.S. “will re-establish an embassy in Havana and carry out high-level exchanges and visits between our two governments as part of the normalization process”

Initial step will involve U.S.-Cuba Migration Talks in Jan.

U.S. institutions will be allowed to open accounts at Cuban financial institutions for authorized transactions; U.S. credit, debit cards permitted for use by travelers to Cuba

Travelers can import $400 of goods from Cuba, no more than $100 of tobacco, alcohol combined

White House moving to expand exports of U.S. goods, services incl. building materials, agricultural equipment, communications devices

Lifts sanctions on Cuban nationals outside Cuba

Changes announced will be implemented via amendments to U.S. Treasury, Commerce Dept regulations

And then there is this...

Rajiv Shah, the administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, abruptly resigned on Wednesday after US and Cuba announced plans to normalize relations and exchange prisoners.

USAID oversaw secret US programs aimed at regime change in Cuba.


U.S. Government Caught Using Humanitarian HIV Program As Front To Foster Cuban Dissent

Conspiracy Fact: How The U.S. Government Covertly Invented A "Cuban Twitter" To Create Revolution
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Post  bb1 Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:20 pm

Well, I've just watched Obama lying addressing the nation. He'd be well advised not to sit in any open-topped limos when passing book depositories....
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Post  bb1 Thu Dec 18, 2014 11:26 am

http://www.infowars.com/for-truly-better-relations-with-cuba-open-the-door-and-get-out-of-the-way/

Ron Paul on the thaw in relations.

My own opinion on this is that if the CIA thinks it can regime-change Cuba, and turn it back into a giant offshore Mafia-run brothel, America will be kicked out again. Cuba has been dealing with the rest of the world for decades, and is a popular holiday destination. It is NOT going to be impressed by shiny toys - or strange women bearing cookies.
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Post  bb1 Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:34 pm

http://www.infowars.com/regime-change-in-cuba/

Conservatives and Republicans such as Peggy Noonan and Senator Marco Rubio, have made it clear that Castro is “a bad man who turned an almost-paradise into a floating prison” and that normalizing relations with Cuba will not “grant the Castro regime legitimacy.”

Pre-revolution Cuba was anything but paradise, unless you were a plantation owner or Mafia boss. The plantation owners treated workers like slaves, and the US Mafia had turned Cuba into a giant, off-shore brothel where ANYONE was for sale. Male, female, child, adult, consenting, kidnapped, it didn't matter. Castro threw all that filth out of his country.

I don't see Cubans, having achieved so much, wanting to go back to that again. And considering Torture HQ Gitmo is currently polluting Cuban soil, American politicians are in NO position to lecture anyone.
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