Page 8 - Cuban Five News Today

The three remaining members of the cuban five, they are released as a humanitarian gesture, according to u.s. officials. the cubans have also freed alan gross, an american contractor who had been held in a cuban prison for five years. patrick oppmann is our man reporting live from cuba right now. patrick, what else did the cuban president, raul castro, say? i understand like president obama, he thanked the pope for his efforts behind the scenes as well. >> reporter: absolutely. it was not just w...

There are some that say this is going to be the end of the castro brothers hold. the critics respond to policies, this shift help them hold onto power and the dual announcement is interesting. i will say this, the president mentioning pope francis and the vaticans part in all of this does provide a different cover for this administration politically and that the pope was active in this trying to get u.s. and cuba to change policy. >> bret baier, thank you for joining us today. we will continue t...

>> i think it would be against japan and maybe not the united states. thats upsetting to everybody over there. >> jay thomas, thank you so much for swinging by. >> i would have gone to the opening of course. you know me. >> thank you. thank you so much. the smallest coffins are the heaviest. thats just one tweet in response to unimaginable tragedy in pakistan. cnn has new information today on the six men who scaled the wall of a school and commenced this massacre and more of our breaking news co...

The u.s. got alan gross, an american contractor held for five years, hes now back here in the united states. another u.s. spy who had been held by cuba for 20 years, he is freed as well. three cuban prisoners held in the u.s., part of the cuban five, they have been released as well. carl levin, democrat from michigan, good news, bad news, what do you think, senator? >> i think this is the right thing to do by the president. alan gross is somebody who never should have been in prison. theres anot...

Agents that included the men transferred to cuba today as well as other spies in the united states. >> president speaking just a little while ago about the release of the remaining three imprisoned members of the so-called cuban five. well talk with the author of "what lies across the water. the real story of the cuban five." welcome. >> hello. how are you today? >> hello. im wonderful. let me begin with this mystery spy who led to capture of the cuban five. who were prisoners held in the u.s. a...

Washington. elise, i want to begin with you because you have the details of this series of remarkable developments here and at the top of that list well have an embassy. the white house wants to open up an embassy in havana. >> thats right, john, and the u.s. and cuba having these talks for some time. not only about alan gross and the cuban five and u.s. intelligence asset but how the u.s. and cuba can normalize relations. youve seen talks with u.s. and cuban officials over the last years and th...

Alan gross, well bring him to the -- well bring him live. finish your point. >> my point about alan gross. when i went there in 2011 to cuba, it was very clear. and i said to the cubans, nothing is going to happen in the improvement of u.s./cuban relations unless you release alan gross. then they said well we want the cuban five. and at the time, neither country was ready to make that deal, but i think it is significant that serious negotiations have been happening, i dont know if the pope had a...

Were, in fact, spies? >> yes. they were not technically dealing with espionage but if you refer to a secret intelligence agent, yes, they have always admitted that. at the start of the trial they admitted that. thats one of the things that made it so difficult to get a fair trial in cuba -- im sorry, in miami, which was that the very beginning of the case, all of the defendants admitted they were agentings here working in cuba. what they were disputing at trial and what we continue to litigate u...

Majority of the court of appeals that heard it either found the evidence completely lacking or highly questionable. but he is actually innocent. this will n all likelihood, terminate the legal proceedings that have gone on for 16 years in which were still trying to erase any doubt about his noninvolvement with that event. that simply is not something that can be fairly attributed to gerardo hernandez. it would take a long time to explain all the factors why thats true but its legally impossible ...

Cuban relations in decades appears to be unfolding this morning. alan gross, an american contractor held prisoner in cuba for the last five years is now on his way home on a plane heading back to the united states from havana. gross was arrested back in 2009 after he was caught smuggling satellite equipment into cuba. it with us part of a u.s. aid plan to increase internet access in a severely restricted company. the release of three of the so-called cuban five, being held on espionage charges i...