State Department officials announced the deal on Thursday. On Thursday they struck a deal to re-establish scheduled airline flights. The diplomatic advance is said to be the biggest step toward tighter economic ties since the two countries began normalizing relations past year.
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In addition, thanks to the change in USA policy toward Cuba, Washington is “in a stronger position” to engage “the people and governments of our hemisphere”, Obama said. “However it’s been something of a disappointment as well”, he adds, “mainly over the inability to lift the embargo”.
“We continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but we raise those issues directly, and we will always stand for human rights and the universal values that we support around the globe”, he said.
Washington for its part is seeking damages for property that Cuba seized from United States companies and citizens in the early 1960s, and also wants to see democratic and free-market reforms on the island.
Progress, one person at a time? “We’re working on a new relationship, one based on respect, where baseball is the language spoken”. Previously, if an American wanted to travel to Cuba, he or she would have had to travel to Canada or another third country before traveling on to the Caribbean island nation. Academic exchanges and “educational tours” are quickly expanding.
There is no timeline on when the flights begin, but the deal signals a final thawing in US-Cuba relations, and it is hoped it will eventually increase tourism and business on the communist island.
It will allow US airlines to sell tickets on their websites for flights to Cuba.
The news comes as travel between the US and Cuba surged by over 70% this year, according to Reuters.
Hostilities between Washington and the new Castro administration escalated rapidly in the years after the revolution, following which then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that the U.S. would no longer observe diplomatic links with Cuba.
The announcement coincides with the first anniversary of the beginning of the process to normalise bilateral relations. Now only authorized charter flights are allowed to fly between the U.S. and Cuba. Current US law also allowed for special permits to visit Cuba, and the criteria for getting one of these was loosened in January. The number of Cubans arriving this year is more than double last year’s total – and about five times higher than in 2011.
“Over the next year, we will continue on this path, empowering Cubans and Americans to lead the way”, he said.
Critics say there’s no reason to expect Cuba to change.
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“I like. It’s the best”, said Cesar Cowley who just returned from visiting family in Cuba.
