Barack Obama and Raúl Castro have thanked Pope Francis for helping broker a historic deal to begin normalising relations between the United States and Cuba, after 18 months of secret talks over prisoner releases brought a sudden end to decades of cold war hostility.
The two presidents spoke simultaneously on Wednesday to confirm the surprise reversal of a long-running US policy of isolating Cuba, detailing a series of White House steps that will relax travel, commercial and diplomatic restrictions in exchange for the release of Americans and dissidents held in Havana.
Though a formal end to the US trade embargo requires legislation in Congress, both Obama and Castro said they believed such executive action was sufficient to significantly open up relations between the two countries and allow travellers and trade to flow relatively freely.
Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino were among five Cubans jailed for spying on anti-Castro groups in Florida. In exchange for them, Havana released a Cuban man described by Obama as “one of the most important intelligence agents that the United States has ever had in Cuba”. The man, who was freed after nearly 20 years in prison, is said to have been responsible for revealing the “Miami Five” and other prominent Cuban agents. The Cuban government also released 53 political dissidents as part of the deal.
A long 45 minutes to an hour phone call, between Obama and Castro on Tuesday finalised the release of Alan Gross, a US government aid contractor held for five years in Cuba, which accused him of being a spy.
Gross, who the US insists was released on “humanitarian grounds” unrelated to the exchange of spies.
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