What changes with new U.S.-Cuba foreign policy?


President Obama announced today the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations with Cuba, which had been severed since 1961.

The United States will open an embassy in Havana, and increase travel, commerce and the flow of information to and from Cuba, said President Obama in a television speech. The historic shift in foreign policy follows the release of American Alan Gross from a Cuban prison.

“Over many months, my administration has held discussions with the Cuban government about Alan’s case, and other aspects of our relationship,” Obama said. “His Holiness Pope Francis issued a personal appeal to me, and to Cuba’s President Raul Castro, urging us to resolve Alan’s case, and to address Cuba’s interest in the release of three Cuban agents who have been jailed in the United States for over 15 years.

“Alan was released by the Cuban government on humanitarian grounds. Separately, in exchange for the three Cuban agents, Cuba today released one of the most important intelligence agents that the United States has ever had in Cuba, and who has been imprisoned for nearly two decades.”

FIU News spoke to the director of FIU’s Cuban Research Institute, Jorge Duany, about the implications of this major policy shift.