fidel castro is a figurehead but no indications that he was involved and may not even have been aware of the deal. patrick from havana, thank you. political reaction is divided, not exclusively among party lines. new jersey senator robert menendez condemned the deal. senator nelson, a florida democrat called it a hallelujah day and hopefully a rebirth of economic ties between florida and cuba. but marco rubio strongly disagrees. this entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, on a lie. the lie and the illusion that more commerce and access to money and goods will translate to political freedom for the cuban people. all of this is going to do is give the castro regime which controls every aspect of cuban life the opportunity to manipulate these changes.
though, obviously fidel son his last legs but raul castro is in charge. it doesn t seem the transfer there was any weakening of the state, the central power. what makes you think even if raul castro was to go, the policies wouldn t continue? you know, i think, anderson, that the cuba regime, the castro regime is very fidel-centric. very castro-centric. when it disappears, i think it will weaken the government tremendously because so many people, it s the cult of fidel. the same way it was the cult of chavez and we have seen maduro is nowhere near as capable of keeping that government under control in venezuela and let s face it. raul castro is pretty elderly himself. they re both in their 80s. dan, how hard is it for president obama to move forward this? i mean, you have marco rubio saying he ll block funding for cuban embassy and hold up an ambassador role. i think it s important to disassociate those two things.
generous, and talented. it pains me to see them treated so unjustly as a consequence of two governments mutually belligerent policies. to be clear some policies will not be changing. and many people fled the castro regime are no people suffered under it do not want them to change. they think this is a bad idea. they re speaking up and promising president obama will pay steep political price for making this deal. talk about that shortly. first, very latest from washington and havana. cnn the network with a full time operation. patrick is there. jim acaucosta at the white hous. why did the deal come together now? this is not a lifting of the embargo. cold war between cuba and the u.s. starting to thaw. the result of talks going on with the communist nation.
victims who live in the united states and they have developed and flexed their political muscle. there are three cuban american senators serving in the u.s. senate. there are also u.s. congress people in the u.s. congress on both parties and they stick together when it comes to this because it is so important to the first hand victims that they represent. dan, what do you say? you serve in the obama white house. what do you say to the charges this is essentially rewarding bad behavior, an oppressive regime? a failure in reaching goals isn t a reward to anybody. continuing the policy would have been a reward to those who it benefits. this is the u.s. being more relevant in the future of cuba and the people more relevant in
so now when we are so close to the end of the castros, the end of that regime, whuchbt seen fidel castro react because if he s alive, he s too weak or too senile to know this just happened and react. now that we are so close to the end of those two dictators who have oppressed these people for over half a century, now we re going to change and do it unilaterally without them lifting the oppression? ana, what sign do you see though, obviously fidel son his last legs but raul castro is in charge. it doesn t seem the transfer there was any weakening of the state, the central power. what makes you think even if raul castro was to go, the policies wouldn t continue? you know, i think, anderson, that the cuba regime, the castro regime is very fidel-centric. very castro-centric.