An era ended yesterday. After more than 50 years of tensions, embargoes, and even a near world war in the 60s after the Bay of Pigs attack and the subsequent missile crisis, relations between the US and Cuba are back to normal. A historic day, which began with the release of the American prisoner Alan Gross and sealed by the speech of Barack Obama, which officially announced the rapprochement of the United States with Cuba, noting the failure of (more than) half a century of isolation of the communist regime.
“All of us Americans” (We are all Americans), said President Obama during one of the speeches that will inevitably mark his two terms in the White House. The 44th US president announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with Havana and the easing of economic sanctions.
At the same time, on the island, the Cuban counterpart Raul Castro confirmed this historic thaw, underlining however that the question of the economic embargo, imposed on Cuba by John F. Kennedy in 1962, has not yet been resolved. Obama has called for a debate on the revocation of this measure with the US Congress - which promises to be already fiery - "within a legal framework".
Papa Francesco, personally involved in these negotiations carried out in the utmost secrecy, greeted a "historic decision", praising the rapprochement between the two countries, separated only by the 150 kilometers of the Florida Strait. Both Obama and Castro thanked the pontiff. “His Holiness Pope Francis has personally appealed to me and Cuban President Raul Castro through letters, pressing for a resolution of Alan's case and Cuba's interest in the release of three Cuban agents detained in the US for over 15 years,” said the American president.
"The isolation (of Cuba) has not worked", underlined Obama, judging it essential to open "a new chapter" in the Caribbean nation. US Secretary of State John Kerry he will "immediately" start discussions with a view to restoring diplomatic relations, interrupted since 1961. An unimaginable prospect for a long time, the United States will also open an embassy in Havana in the "coming months".
Among the measures announced to promote economic exchanges between the two countries, Americans will be able to use their credit cards in Cuba and American institutions will be able to open current accounts in Cuban credit institutions. The export of telecommunications materials will also be allowed, with a view to promoting the development of the internet on the island. American travelers will also be able to bring back up to $100 worth of tobacco from Cuba, including the famous Cuban cigars.
The historic announcement came a few hours after the release of Alan Gross, a 65-year-old American detained for five years in Havana. Washington had tied each thaw to the release of this former contractor of the US federal agency for international development (USAID), a branch of the State Department. Arrested December 3, 2009 in Cuba, Alan Gross he had been sentenced in 2011 to fifteen years' imprisonment for having introduced material for satellite transmissions which was prohibited on the communist island. He was freed as part of a larger exchange of spies detained in Cuba and three Cubans arrested in the United States.
Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, “welcomed with sincere appreciation the historic announcement made today by President Obama and President Castro of a thaw in relations between the United States and Cuba”. A note from Palazzo Chigi informed that "on the occasion, President Renzi addressed a grateful thought to His Holiness Pope Francis, whose interest and constant support have played a crucial role in writing a historical page which confirms your personal commitment to peace and brotherhood among peoples".
