US announces historic thaw in relations with Cuba

The administration of US President Barack Obama has announced a normalization of ties with Cuba, which has been blacklisted in the US since the Cold War. This comes after the release of a US citizen from a Havana prison.

Deutsche Welle, 17 Dec 2014

Leaders of the US and Cuba have agreed to restore diplomatic relations and plan to open embassies in each other's capitals, officials from the Obama administration said on Wednesday.

Over the phone, US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro finalized negotiations which have been taking place for over a year. Administration officials said the phone call lasted for over 45 minutes. Wednesday's was the first substantial talk between leaders of the two countries since 1961.

"It was the first engagement at the presidential level with Cuba since the Cuban revolution," an official speaking on condition of anonymity told dpa news agency.

The announcement comes just hours after the release of a US citizen from prison in Havana. A US official said on Wednesday that Alan Gross had been released for humanitarian reasons. The 65-year-old was arrested in Cuba in December 2009 while working as a subcontractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been accused of trying to incite dissent and political change in Cuba through clandestine programs.

Alan Gross was arrested in Cuba in 2009, accused by the Cuban government
of trying to incite dissent

He was put on trial and received a sentence of 15 years in prison, of which he has served five.

Gross was said to be in poor health, having lost over 100 pounds during his five years of incarceration, with severe hip pain and loss of sight in one eye.

Last month, he was visited by two US senators. After the visit, Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democrat Tom Udall of New Mexico told reporters on November 11 they were confident they were closer to Gross' release from prison. They did not give any indication that an agreement between the US and Cuba had been reached.

The US had repeatedly called on Havana to release Gross, but Cuba wanted to see the release of three Cuban nationals currently in US prisons for espionage as well.

Covert US dissent programs in question

The senators' optimism over the release of Gross came a day after the US State Department announced it was reviewing some of its secretive, political, democracy promotion programs in hostile countries, i.e. ones where such programs are not welcomed.

That announcement followed an investigation by the Associated Press (AP) this year into work by USAID, which, among other things, "established a Twitter-like service in Cuba [ZunZuneo] and secretly sought to recruit a new generation of dissidents there while hiding ties to the US government." An August investigation by AP also found that the agency had sent Latin youth to Cuba disguised as tourists to "scout for people they could turn into activists" on the island.

The proposed policy for USAID, according to AP, would prohibit the agency from spending money on democracy programs in countries that reject the agency's assistance and where USAID would have to go to "excessive lengths to protect program beneficiaries and participants."

Some of the agency's high-risk democracy efforts would be shifted to other agencies. The changes would, for example, prevent USAID from running such programs as ZunZuneo, which sought to encourage dissent and political change and in the end had 40,000 followers who had no idea it was a US government program, as funding for the site had been channeled through the Cayman Islands.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, however, did not elaborate on any new plans for USAID, saying it would be "premature."

"We continue to believe we need to find creative ways to promote positive change in Cuba, but beyond that, we're still assessing what any change or what any impact would be," she said.

USAID in a statement said it would continue to carry out democracy initiatives in "politically restrictive environments," AP reported. But the Obama administration failed to answer the question of how the agency's pro-democracy work could be continued in Cuba if it was illegal there.

sb/bw (dpa, AFP, AP)

"To the Cuban people, America extends a hand of friendship." —President Obama Watch the full video. #CubaPolicy http://t.co/Qrzp5zODZk
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 17, 2014

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore." Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

"The End of History" -  Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

" ... South America and the New Energy

South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.

There's a shift happening on this planet ...."