Page 7 - Cuban Five News Today

Havana to pick up gross. on the airplane back as we finally crossed into u.s. airspace. you saw him give a big hoorah, put his arms up and he was clearly glad to be home. some tweeted photos of gross on a joyful reunion. from secretary of state john kerry, a hug on arrival. gross humanitarian release was accompanied by a spy swap. on another plane, out of sight from cameras, a highly important u.s. intelligence source held by cuba for 20 years was flown to the u.s. his identity is secret for the...

Years is a fitting closure to this cold war chapter of u.s.-cuban relations. so who did this cuban spy turn up here in the u.s.? one, a former defense intelligence agency or dia analyst anabellen montes giving up the name of four u.s. spies and a secret u.s. army camp in el salvador. she was sentenced to 25 years. second, a former department of state official walter meyers and his wife gwendolyn meyers and they were accused of spying for cuba for three decades and the members of the so-called wa...

Implications, its also a significant diplomatic moment. bill richardson, former ambassador to the united nations and new mexico governor, thank you for joining us ambassador. >> thank you ronan. >> so what is reestablishing relations look like in practical and diplomatic terms? what happens next in this relationship? >> well what happens next, the key is the release of alan gross opens up a lot of possibilities. i tried in 2007 to get him out, but the cubans wanted the cuban five then, and they ...

President envision a visit to havana? >> theres nothing on the schedule right now. the president did hint that there will be senior government officials who will carry out the kind of work thats indicative of two nations seeking to normalize their relations. so, i certainly wouldnt rule out a presidential visit but i dont have anything to announce at this point. >> reporter: but he would like to go, though? he would like to go? >> i assume, like many americans, he has -- he has seen that the -- ...

Invasion of the united states after the fall of the soviet union. for the assay essays to keep itd and that as long as the castro brothers were pressing people, relations would not be normalized. this would be an enormous change of u.s. politics. martha: they said numerous times they would not normalized relations with the castro regime and release of the remaining three of the so-called cuban five was not on the table, that would not be used in negotiations and now it appears it is. what is the...

So-called cuban five thats a group of cuban spies convicted on espionage charges. they served decades in american jails. three of them will be released back to cuba in exchange for mr. alan gross. lets talk about this. congressman sam farr, democrat from california, is on the phone right now. welcome, congressman. >> thank you. what great news. >> give me more of your reaction to this news. >> well, i visited with alan gross in may and he was in very frail condition. weve been advocating to the ...

Who covered immigration for "usa today," also knowledgeable about this issue. the reaction -- i was just talking with mark potter about this, in south florida. certainly is going to be a different reaction in south florida than maybe we will see at the white house or even some on capitol hill. >> absolutely. theres going to be all sorts of talk about the high-minded political rhetoric the back and forth. i can tell you, already, ive heard the term "blood on their hands." when referring to the cu...

Victim of a failed american policy. he was there for the wrong reasons at the wrong time and like the members of the cuban five, trapped in this failed policy that had been going on for more than 50 years. >> caught in the crosshairs. hes now home. thrilled to be home. i think one of the most fascinating pieces of this entire thing, a, the 16, 17, 18-month negotiation between cuba and the u.s. never leaked and part of that came down to the pope. a letter to raul castro and president obama and al...

Also the release of this second intelligence asset in exchange for the cuban five. >> we couldnt be happier that alan is back home and just in time to celebrate the hanukkah holiday with his family. lets think about what really happened here. we have the cuban government releasing alan gross as humanitarian gesture. what we really exchanged were three cuban spies for one american intelligent asset that we had, that had been in jail for about 20 years in cuba, who had provided information that le...

The first time since the early 1960s a formal diplomatic relation being restored between the u.s. and cuba. is so theres a lot more to come down the pipeline. but at least for today the headline appears that alan gross will spend his first day outside. hes almost never let outside of the cuban prison cell where he was and the cuban five, the three remaining members of the cuban five, people who are expecting to spend long prison sentences in the united states, one member, the ringleader, was exp...