They dont know yet how far with this. But people are were tired already of this not having a relationship with america and now they will see an opportunity to increase business and things will come from america that will create jobs. People in cuba believe that we have so much in common with america. And with americans. And so this is certainly good for both partners we believe. Cuba plays a very Important Role and now they are expressing how happy they are and they see america with different eyes. So it opens a new market for american producers is good for the American Business with the
congressman, your thoughts as alan gross comes home and the possibility of normalization with cuba. First of all, were always elated when an american gets to come home, so i congratulate alan gross. He got his freedom, he got to spend hannukah with his family. Thats wonderful news. What is not wonderful news is that the families of the brothers to the rescue shootdown, those four wonderful american pat
Raul castro, the president of cuba will also give a News Conference in his country that will happen at noon eastern time. Of course cnn will continue to follow this breaking news throughout the day. Thank you for joining me today, im carol kos toll low. this hour with berman and michaela starts now. Hello, everyone. Im john berman. And. And im michaela pereira. History is being made at this hour after more than a half century of tension and diplomat diplomatic silence between the u. S. Its releasing alan gross from prison after five years. A series of genuinely breathtaking developments. Cuba is also releasing a u. S. Intelligence asset, a spy, whos been locked up in cuba for more than 20 years. In Return Washington is freeing three cuban spies convicted in 2001 of espionage. That is big in and of itself. It all seems part now of something much, much bigger. President obama will announce major changes in u. S. Policy toward cuba. Officials calling them the most sweeping changes since t
and not enough to go to air or print. but what happened was over a series of months, there was there were some secret contacts in canada, facilitated by no less than the pope to try to get a, first of all, to get alan gross out. he s the american contractor in a cuban jail for five years. and also, to move toward what president obama did this week, which is to say he s going to try to normalize diplomatic relations with cuba after more than five decades of estrangement. and they pulled it off. they were able to get alan gross on a plane, get the other prisoners who were part of a rather complicated multiprisoner swap out of cuba before the whole thing was announced. and it was this came out earlier this week in stages over the morning on wednesday.
humanitarian basis let alan gross out, then the u.s. was able to make this swap of three cuban spies, as you say, let out of american prison and then there was an intelligence asset to the u.s. government, we believe a cuban man, who was helping the u.s. from cuba thrown he was caught by the cuban authorities at some point and thrown in prison, been there for some 20 years. so that was the swap. look, that might be a distinction without a difference. all of this was happening around the same time. it was a deal between the president of the united states, the dictator from cuba. i think the big question moving forward, you ve got democrats, not just republicans but democrats like bob menendez saying they think it was a direct swap and how that might matter moving forward. will someone like bob menendez go along with formally lifting the embargo with cuba. he s saying no. while there are republicans not normally aligned with the
first time in this 56-year-long drama that the cuban people have lived, for the first time the person in the white house is on the wrong side of history. we want the president of the united states to stand with the cuban people. we want the president of the united states to stand with those heroes that are sitting in castro s jail today, and we want the president of the united states to stand for a strong united states that leads with a clear voice and with moral authority, and that is not what happened today. and we shouldn t be surprised, greta, because this is the same president that s at the table with the iranians. this is the same president that draws red lines and ignores them. so what happened today is alarming, but it s not surprising. thank you to both of you for joining us. thank you, greta. thank you, carlos. congressman chris van hollen has more on the government plane that lifted alan gross out of cuba after a very tough five years in prison and landed back on u.s.