government to arrange trips. they expanded, the administration expanded the reasons why you could go to cuba. before, journalist ix, religious, cultural reasons. now just about any reason. you will see more and more americans go. if they can afford the price. same time, we asked, will americans buy a cuban cigar? at a store in the united states? no. you will have off to bring cigars out of cuba if you travel there up to $100 worth of tobacco and rum. so there are still sort of quirky, goofy, restrictions still in place. americans can travel about anywhere around the world, andersen. book trips on their own. they will not be able to do it. 100% freely to cuba. have to go through travel agents authorized by the federal governments. a step forward. but it is not a lifting of, of embar go and travel ban. they will be able to use credit card from some banks. a big step. jim, thank you very much. next, patrick, otman with reaction in cuban capital. in havana.
we have not seen any pictures of him since late august. it s just another sign that raul castro is running the show here. 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
awe thought got everyone s attention. the president called him the real deal. here to talk is father thomas reese, senior analyst. pope francis wrote letters to president obama and raul castro, there was a diplomatic meeting in october. do you know how this played out behind the scenes? well, it all began last january when john kerry visited the vatican and personally asked the vatican for its help in getting alan gross free. and then president obama, when he came to the vatican in march followed up on that. and eventually the pope wrote a letter to both presidents, president of cuba and president of the united states encouraging them to resolve this issue. and hearing not only president obama but also raul
the american people in the long-term. when i was a president, as you just mentioned, we started the diplomatic relations process and we established major intersections in both havana and also washington. in cuba two or three years ago, we had diplomats serves in the intersection of havana. i think that will continue no matter what happens. the normal diplomatic relations will continue and i hope congress goes ahead to remove the embargo and the sanctions because that doesn t hurt the castro brothers. it hurts the people of cuba who had to suffer because of our own imposed economic sanctions. i think this is a good move for both cubans and americans and a major step forward for more freedom and more democracy and respect for human rights in cuba as well. critics of this say, as you know, if it alleviates the
right to travel where we want to go. we re the only ones who can t go to cuba. anywhere else in the world, you can go to cuba. this has been a restraint on americans as well as it has been on the cubans. former president jimmy carter, thank you very much for your time. i appreciate you being with us. thank you. pope francis will tell you how he was involved ahead. the high performance gti. looks like we re gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend s 2015 cars of the year. i was out for a bike ride. i didn t think i d have a heart attack. but i did. i m mike, and i m very much alive. now my doctor recommends a bayer aspirin regimen to help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.