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.
Obama 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 United States 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 Culhanne, reporting from
Washington, said the move was likely be
“incredibly controversial”.
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.”
(Al Jazeera)
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