President Barack Obama is entering into discussions with the Communist leaders in Cuba in an attempt to establish diplomatic ties with the island nation. The Alan Gross “ Cuban Five ” prisoner exchange is allegedly paving the way for such negotiations to take place.
Obama is scheduled to make a “Cuban announcement” during a noon press conference today. A White House media release stated that there will be “limited press pool coverage” of the Obama Cuba press conference. The talks to “normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba” talks reportedly include the possible opening of a U.S. Embassy in Havana in the coming months. If full diplomatic status is granted to Communist Cuba currently ruled by Rahul Castro, the embargo against the island nation since the 1960s would come to an end.
Obama’s Cuba announcement remarks are expected to reveal a new policy with the Communist nation that includes lessened travel restrictions and agricultural exports.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Alan Gross has been held captive in a Cuban military prison for five years. He is said to be in ill health, missing most of his teeth, and can barely walk due to arthritis in his hip. Gross was arrested on espionage charges after he reportedly took satellite phones and computers into Communist Cuba and gave them to members of the Jewish community.
Earlier this month President Obama addressed the Alan Gross incarceration on the fifth anniversary of the American AID contractor’s captivity, “The Cuban Government’s release of Alan on humanitarian grounds would remove an impediment to more constructive relations between the United States and Cuba.” Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison for espionage. In 2010, after Rahul Castro assumed power from Fidel Castro, President Obama eased some of the Cuban embargo restrictions. Obama lifted travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in Cuba.
Gross threatened a second hunger strike followed by suicide on his birthday in May, if he was not released from the military prison in Cuba. Details about the Cuban Five prisoner swap for Gross are also expected to be included in President Obama’s press conference remarks.
“The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are unjustly imprisoned in the United States after being arrested by the FBI on Sept. 12, 1998 and convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001, in a political prosecution by the U.S. government. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González,” according to the National Committee To Free The Cuban Five website.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio said the United States and Cuba are “moving toward normalized banking and trade ties.” Rubio also feels that America is receptive to the idea of opening an embassy in Havana. “This is going to do absolutely nothing to further human rights and democracy in Cuba. But it potentially goes a long way in providing the economic lift that the Castro regime needs to become permanent fixtures in Cuba for generations to come.” Senator Rubio said that while he is glad Alan Gross is coming home, that swapping prisoners incarcerated on criminal charges sets a dangerous precedent and essentially puts a target on the head of every American.
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[Image via. ABC News ]
