Page 7 - Patrick Oppman News Today

Patrick oppman with more. >> reporter: dont expect cuba where chesimard is believed to be living, to try to collect on the reward anytime soon. chesimard is wanted for the murder of a new jersey state trooper. she is just one of dozens of fugitives believed to be living in cuba. they include, chesimard, on the fbi terrorist list, bank robbers, cop killers and other radicals, some spent decades here. chesimard lived openly in havana for some time. after the reward increased to $2 million, she has...

Convicted cop killer where she fled after escaping prison. despite the plan to normalize relations with cuba. the nation has the right to grant asylum to people who feel they were persecuted. this is infuriating governor chris christie. chesimard shot and killed a state trooper in 1973. >> chesimard, a cold blooded cop killer, convicted by her peers, certainly must more just than anything happened to cuba under the castro brothers, she is now according to an official of the cuban government, per...

And were hearing from experts it was very interesting to see who allude to something of 1,000 president obama and the cuban leader, raul castro now to 1800 secret agents around the world, that it may be a much delivering their contemporaneous speeches almost about this more organized attempt by north coordinated effort. and it reminds us of what korea to try to move into this happened with their handshake at parallel war of cyberwar. nelson mandalas funeral. >> thats chilling. everybody said the...

Internet and the international red cross and u.n. who are on the ground, more engagement with them and the political opposition. carol? >> this is just incredible because when you think about it, that u.s. embargo has been in place for, what, more than 50 years. so this is a sea change. i want to head to cuba now and check in with patrick oppman, the only u.s. reporter in cuba. raul castro is also going to make a statement at 12:00 eastern time. what do you think that will be like? >> i think th...

You have tens of thousands of american visitors coming through a somewhat confusing process but coming here legally. you have even more americans coming through third countries illegally but almost never punish sod theyll make travel restrictions much less confusing and expensive and cumbersome. and finally, theyre hoping that by loosening up some of the restrictions that theyll bring the cuban people together and that well see more and more cubans in south florida and other parts taken a active...

Be full-fledged embassies, an american ambassador in havana, a cuban ambassador here in washington. not just diplomatic interest sections but embassies and all that means a normalization of diplomatic relations, in other words. cnn is covering these seismic developments as only cnn can. our patrick ottman is the only reporter there. elise labott is standing by live. alina machado, jim sciutto, evan perez and our white house correspondent, jim acosta. lets go to havana first. patrick is on the sc...

Arrangement is is coming into playwright now. we want to go live to patrick oppman in havana, cnn is the only u.s. network with presence in cuba. patrick, a wul castro, the president, the leader of cuba is expected to speak in just a little while. what is he expected to say? >> well probably hear more details about this historic agreement came through. just came through in the last 24 hours. i understand from a pr company that works for alan grosss attorney, some of the ticktock of what happened...

In return washington is freeing three cuban spies convicted in 2001 of espionage. that is big in and of itself. it all seems part now of something much, much bigger. president obama will announce major changes in u.s. policy toward cuba. officials calling them the most sweeping changes since the embargo began more than 50 years ago. >> cuban president raul castro is planning a similar announcement next hour on cuban tv. the big question at this hour, does this foreshadow a return to normal relat...

American soil but also about the potential for new relations with cuba. >> well, this is very personal for me because in 2011 i went to cuba to try to get alan gross out and i was unable to. they wanted the five cuban political prisoners, the five spies in the u.s. and the u.s. -- neither country was ready to do it. so this is huge. alan gross was the impediment for the u.s./cuba relationship improving. so now that that has been cleared away i think president obama is looking at his legacy and s...

Embargo because congress has to improve softening of the trade embargo. this was the helms-burton act several years ago that basically said the president doesnt have the executive authority to do this without going to the congress. but this is huge. this is the legacy stuff for president obama and my hope is that we zero in on -- this is good but cuba needs to improve its human rights position, needs to release political prisoners, allow the internet in, allow more freedoms there. hopefully this...