welcome back, everybody. a lot going on right now. any minute now we're expecting to hear from american alan gross and what will be his first news conference since his release from cuba today. after five years imprisoned on espionage charges, gross is home on u.s. soil. the release is just part of a seismic shift in relations between the u.s. and cuba. a seismic shift that could change cuba's economic fortunes at a time when the country needs that. that's in part because of the price of oil. a price plummeting now below # $0 a barrel. and some economies like venezuela and russia are backers of cuba. cnbc anchor brian sullivan joins us for more. i know you don't have a lot of time right now. i wanted to ask you though about the surrounding economic forces. first of all, how significant are the implications of this changing relationship, and second of all, how much is driven by the economic context we just talked about? >> second part first, a ton because listen, for years