after five decades of confrontation. seeing the american flag for the first time in five years, a frail gross was overcome. his toothless smile offered the untold story of the toll his captivity took on his body. what a blessing it is to be a citizen of this country and thank you, president obama, for everything that you have done today and leading up to today. reporter: before dawn a team of u.s. officials and lawmakers boarded a u.s. government plane for havana to pick up gross. on the airplane back as we finally crossed into u.s. airspace, you saw him give a big hurrah, put his arms up. he was clearly glad to be home. some tweeted photos of gross on his joyful reunion. from john kerry a hug on arrival. his humanitarian release was accompanied by a spy swap.
havana to pick up gross. on the airplane back as we finally crossed into u.s. airspace. you saw him give a big hoorah, put his arms up and he was clearly glad to be home. some tweeted photos of gross on a joyful reunion. from secretary of state john kerry, a hug on arrival. gross humanitarian release was accompanied by a spy swap. on another plane, out of sight from cameras, a highly important u.s. intelligence source held by cuba for 20 years was flown to the u.s. his identity is secret for the information he provided to the u.s. on a shadowy network that spied on cuban-american exiles and u.s. military bases. three of those spies held for more than a decade were released from the u.s. and sent back to cuba part of the so-called cuban five. the nation s top spy agency called the deal a fitting closure to the cold war tensions between the two countries.
first, let s go to our cnn global affairs correspondent. she broke the story here on cnn. what s the latest you re hearing about this? reporter: president obama thought this was the right moment to chart a new course on cuba, both because of the beginnings of changes on the island, some modest reforms. but also the problems it was causing for the u.s. in the region with its diplomacy. and now secretary of state john kerry saying he wants to be the first john kerry to visit havana in more than 50 years. u.s. contractor alan gross on american soil. with his release, a historic opening of u.s. relations with cuba after five decades of confrontation. seeing the american flag for the first time in five years, a frail gross was overcome. his toothless smile offered the untold story of the toll his captivity took on his body.
he felt this was the moment now because of some modest changes that are happening on the island and also because it was hurting u.s. policy in the region. now secretary of state john kerry of thes to be the first secretary to go to cuba in more than 50 years. u.s. contractor alan gross on american soil with his release, a historic opening of u.s. relations with cuba after five decades of confrontation. seeing the american flag for the first time in five years, a frail gross was overcome. his toothless smile offered the untold story of the toll his captivity took on his body. what a blessing it is to be a citizen of this country and thank you, president obama for everything that you have done today and leading up to today. before dawn, a team of u.s. officials and lawmakers boarded a u.s. government plane for
look a lot like things in every other capital around the globe. functional u.s. embassy and potential influx of american tourists. the announcement was tied to the celebratory announcement that this man, alan gross is now home. gross, an american usaid worker imprisoned, reunited with his life this morning, flown back to the united states after the pilot announced that they had left cuban airspace, gross stood. he took a deep breath and then he telephoned his two daughters. i m free, he told them. and on this, the first day of hanukkah, gross celebrated by having potato pancakes or latkas and a corned beef on mustard. elise abbott, bringing alan gross home obviously central to today s news, but what else pushed president obama to act? well, you know, jake, that president obama took office looking to engage cuba.