back in the 1990s, tried to ease some of these travel restrictions and then, of course t-cas trow government shot down these brothers to the rescue planes and everything changed again. and so what s going to be key here is how raul castro s government behaves in the next year or so, whether they do anything that sets this effort back again. it s really all on them whether or not they can make sure that this relationship doesn t get set back after what president obama is really going on a limb for in this announcement today, carol. evan perez, thanks so much, i appreciate it. i want to bring our viewers back to havana cuba, patrick oppman is standing by. he has new information about the negotiations to release alan gross. tell us more. these negotiations were so fraught, living here in cuba, we heard little bits of information over the past months and the
embargo because congress has to improve softening of the trade embargo. this was the helms-burton act several years ago that basically said the president doesn t have the executive authority to do this without going to the congress. but this is huge. this is the legacy stuff for president obama and my hope is that we zero in on this is good but cuba needs to improve its human rights position, needs to release political prisoners, allow the internet in, allow more freedoms there. hopefully this is going to happen with this release, but this was the linchpin, the release of alan gross for the u.s. that s the news we were hoping to get so the relationship with cuba would improve. you brought up congress here and, governor, you ve had just about every job imaginable, both political and diplomatic so you know the complications here.
blame the u.s. for the problems here in cuba. a dramatic and historic moment in the u.s./cuban relationship, the most dramatic moment in improved relations going back r50 years. patrick oppmann, the only u.s. television correspondent reporting for us from havana. we ll be anxious to hear what the cuban president, raul castro, has to say. yesterday, the president of the united states and the president of cuba had what was described as about a 45-minute to a one-hour conversation. that was the first direct presidential communication between the united states and cuba going back probably 50 years, a major discussion. they choreographed, they worked out all of the details that are about to take place beginning with the president s statement, president obama s statement only a few moments away. elise labott is joining us, our global affairs correspondent. you brought the story earlier this morning here on cnn. i think for those of us who have
authorities are much more interested in having american pop stars, movie stars, people who are going to help their tourism industry rather than have dangerous fugitives and today the cuban authorities are receiving some very rare praise from their u.s. counterparts to diffuse what could have been a dangerous situation for these young children, carol. patrick oppman reporting from cuba this morning. boy, the dow and s&p 500 hitting record highs yet again. heading even higher, maybe, who knows. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. brand spanking new record highs for the dow and s&p 500. now the dow now sharing the spotlight, seemingly, almost on a daily basis with those record high levels. and the s&p 500 is good to watch because it s a broader index. it gives us a better idea about the market and how your investments are doing, the health of your investments because the s&p 500 includes 500 stocks. many, many more stocks than the
custody. and then there was the abduction at their grandmother s home in florida. today we find them in cuba. we are going to get patrick oppman back on the phone in a few moments to talk a little more about that and what he actually physically saw. he went to the marina and saw the boat and the kids and the dad. also, we are following this story. this is flying about to get a lot bumpier. one study saying it is going to be pretty rough. you ll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie s list for bringing us together. angie s list reviews you can trust. for over 75 years people .with geico. ohhh.sorry!. director s voice: here we go. from the top. and action for over 75 years people have saved money with gecko so.. director s voice: cut it! .what.what did i say? gecko? i said gecko? aw. for over 75 year.(laughs. but still trying to keep it contained)