Page 71 - Patrick Oppmann News Today

Then the question is why if there had been a loosening of restrictions why doesnt it improve regular cubans lives because for 06-plus years the cuban government has been blaming all of the countrys economic woes on the u.s. embargo and now it will really be up to the cuban government to improve the peoples well-being, wolf. >> patrick, thanks. patrick oppmann the only u.s. television network correspondent in havana right now. critics have been quick to slam the presidents shift on cuba. congress...

Moscow to havana flight normally takes. snowden will actually fly over the united states, the country he is so openly defying. and cuba, never an ally of washington, may be all too willing to help him out. cnns patrick oppmann is in havana. >> reporter: if he does get on the flight, its a 12-hour journey on a once a day aeroflot flight from moscow to havana. they claim there has been no asylum requests, no guarantee of safe passage for edward snowden. as you mentioned, chris, hes come to go a co...

Because there is regular flight service between moscow and havana. so not only is it a way for him to leave moscow, but hes coming to a country that might give him safe passage. there are many journalists who are onboard as well. and before they took off, they didnt see any sight of him, so he would have had to have been stuck aboard this plane. cuban officials are not commenting yet. theyre not commenting on any reports, whether hes traveling to ecuador or other latin-american country. so were ...

Airport. of course, the question is, is the plane carrying edward snowden. one of the possibilities -- just a possibility at this point -- is that he might try come to ecuador via havana. of course, you know, this is the plane route that many -- [ inaudible ] didnt see any sign of edward snowden. as the plane, the passengers come off, if in fact we see any sign of -- of edward snowden, i can tell you theres been something of more of a police presence than usual at the havana airport. its probabl...

Think its possible, possible, mr. snowden could head is patrick oppmann. were told hes trying to get to ecuador. has there been anything said by the castro government in cuba and is havana potentially a pass-through point? >> reporter: all afternoon weve been talking to cuban officials and so far they just tell us theyre monitoring the situation and no announcement to make. but cuban officials have been watching this case for the last few days taking some delight and embarrassment of the united ...

Grandparents, robert and patricia hauser. robert spoke for the pair and he talked about the anticipation of having those boys back at home. listen. >> right now were just looking forward to sitting, getting them in our arms and hugging them and being with them, getting them home where theyll be safe again. >> now were told that medically, physically, theyre fine. it will take some time to determine if there are any psychological scars of what happened over the last week. but we also know that th...

As she said, theyre doing fine. patrick oppmann, cnn havana. >> just terrific reporting from patrick. >> it really is incredible. thank you for that. 32 minutes past the hour. new developments this morning about a frightening scene on a college campus in texas. a stabbing rampage. the suspect under arrest. 20-year-old dylan quick is accused of injuring 14 people in yesterdays attack. there he is. officials say quick told investigators that he planned the assault and that he had fantasized about ...

The boat. and they said if, in fact, they would have been housed in a hotel, perhaps that could have been a sign that there was some trouble looming? >> you know what? patrick oppmann spoke about this, about the protection of that boat, and keeping the family there. he says that there were agents there, police officers with the state, who some were uniform, some in plain clothes, who came up and kept people away from that boat. also, as we understand now, to likely keep them on it to make sure t...

Were outside the marina hemingway where theres a lot more security than when we were here earlier. then we were just able to drive in and immediately start looking for the hakkens boat. we went back up in this area here and there are lots of boats from the united states but none that match the description weve gotten from police. were going to the last boat slip that we saw the "salt." it really stood out because it was a much smaller boat, and as soon as we got there and started filming i saw j...

Government of cuba, theyve been very supportive and they were very cooperative, and all our requests and trying to make sure that we got the family back safely. >> of course there are more questions in this story. were hoping to get those answers. were told that the grandparents will make themselves, as well as the boys, chase and cole, available to answer questions about the ordeal of the last week. john? >> interesting to hear from them. victor blackwell live in tampa for us this morning. than...