BREAKING: US officials: US to start talks with Cuba to normalize full diplomatic relations, open embassy.

[EC]

BREAKING: US officials: US to start talks with Cuba to normalize full diplomatic relations, open embassy. - @AP

Tweet only at present.

The Worm is talking at noon EST, might be more then.

[EC]

WASHINGTON (AP) — American officials say the U.S. and Cuba will start talks to normalize full diplomatic relations as part of the most significant shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island in decades.

Officials say the U.S. is also looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months. The moves are part of an agreement between the U.S. and Cuba that also includes the release of American Alan Gross and three Cubans jailed in Florida for spying.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said the agreement includes normalizing banking and trade ties with Cuba.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7f7f6bba9d934897a07b09039fd25e38/ap-source-cuba-releases-us-prisoner-alan-gross

[flowers]

Not a bit surprising to all of us who have been paying attention to this bunch in power. I have mixed feelings about it though.

[sinkspur]

This is way overdue. The US is the only Western nation that doesn't have relations with Cuba; the reason for that are the ex-pats in Florida.  That is the ONLY reason we don't.

I've always thought it was kinda silly:  full dealings with Russia and China and Cuba is treated like a pariah.

[NavyCanDo]

I have no problems with it myself,  but I would walk into it carefully, making sure releasing political prisoners  guilty of no crime other than opposing Castro are considered in the talks. And I don’t trust the one in office to do so.
 
Classic Car restorers in the U.S. have been salivating over the idea of normalizing relations with Cuba.   There are an estimated 60,000 vintage cars still in Cuba. I call Dibs on the first 1956 Corvette.

[Relic]

I think this is a move long overdue.

When can I buy real Cuban cigars?!

[EC]

They do beat the ever loving crap out of Dominican. 

[Dexter]

Cigars are disgusting. 

[flowers]

I have no problems with it myself,  but I would walk into it carefully, making sure releasing political prisoners  guilty of no crime other than opposing Castro are considered in the talks. And I don’t trust the one in office to do so.
 
Classic Car restorers in the U.S. have been salivating over the idea of normalizing relations with Cuba.   There are an estimated 60,000 vintage cars still in Cuba. I call Dibs on the first 1956 Corvette.

Yikes, I never thought of the car issue. That would be a find. 3 of these guys are the ones obiecommie is has released.......

Cuban Five
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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   Some or all of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources, or by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted. (July 2014)
Sign supporting the 'Cuban Five' in Varadero, Cuba

The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five[1] (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) are five Cuban intelligence officers convicted in Miami of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States. The Five were in the United States to observe and infiltrate the United States Southern Command and the Cuban-American groups Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban American National Foundation, and Brothers to the Rescue.[2][3] They were part of "La Red Avispa", or the Wasp Network.

In 2001 the Cuban government acknowledged, after denying the fact for nearly three years, that the five men were intelligence agents. It says they were spying on Miami's Cuban exile community, not the US government.[4] Cuba contends that the men were sent to South Florida in the wake of several terrorist bombings in Havana masterminded by anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, a Central Intelligence Agency operative.[4][5]

The Five appealed their convictions, and the alleged lack of fairness in their trial has received substantial international criticism.[6] A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta overturned their convictions in 2005, citing the "prejudices" of Miami’s anti-Castro Cubans, but the full court later reversed the five's bid for a new trial and reinstated the original convictions.[4] In June 2009 the United States Supreme Court declined to review the case.[7] In Cuba, the Five are viewed by the government as national heroes and portrayed as having sacrificed their liberty in the defense of their country.[8]

René González was released on October 7, 2011[9] following the completion of 13 years of his sentence with a further three years of probation in the US. He was allowed to return to Cuba for his father's funeral on 22 April 2013, and a federal judge allowed him to stay there provided that he renounce his United States citizenship.[10] Fernando González was released on February 27, 2014.[11] The remaining members were released on December 17, 2014, in a prisoner swap with Cuba for an unidentified American intelligence officer; the release also coincided with the "humanitarian" release by Cuba of American contractor Alan Phillip Gross, although the governments characterized the release of Gross as being unrelated to the release of the Cuban Five members.[12]

In Cuba, the Five are viewed by the government as national heroes and portrayed as having sacrificed their liberty in the defense of their country.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five

[olde north church]

I think this is a move long overdue.

When can I buy real Cuban cigars?!

I thought they were overrated.

[Oceander]

I have no problems with it myself,  but I would walk into it carefully, making sure releasing political prisoners  guilty of no crime other than opposing Castro are considered in the talks. And I don’t trust the one in office to do so.
 
Classic Car restorers in the U.S. have been salivating over the idea of normalizing relations with Cuba.   There are an estimated 60,000 vintage cars still in Cuba. I call Dibs on the first 1956 Corvette.

Absolutely.  Viz. cars, the same thing happened with Uruguay a long time ago.  They had cars from the 30s even that were still in decent shape and driven daily.  At some point I believe they made it illegal to export the cars because so many people - mostly Americans - were coming in, buying them for a song, and making big bucks on them in the US.

[Relic]

I thought they were overrated.

I'd like to find out.

[Relic]

Cigars are disgusting. 

Tastes change when you grow up! 

[Dexter]

Tastes change when you grow up! 

When I was in 7th grade they showed us a video of a woman that had a large chunk of her throat cut out due to her addiction to cigarettes. She was so addicted that she still smoked through that hole in her throat. I was so disgusted by everything I saw in that video that it scared me into never touching a single tobacco product.

[Relic]

When I was in 7th grade they showed us a video of a women that had a large chunk of her throat cut out due to her addiction to cigarettes. She was so addicted that she still smoked through that hole in her throat. I was so disgusted by everything I saw in that video that it scared me into never touching a single tobacco product.

Yep. However, cigars aren't nearly as addictive. Did you know that only crazy people inhale cigars? Probably not.

I'll enjoy my cigars, and you can continue to tell anyone who will listen how gross it is.

[Oceander]

When I was in 7th grade they showed us a video of a women that had a large chunk of her throat cut out due to her addiction to cigarettes. She was so addicted that she still smoked through that hole in her throat. I was so disgusted by everything I saw in that video that it scared me into never touching a single tobacco product.

If they showed you a video of someone who died from water poisoning, would that scar you into never touching water again?

[Dexter]

If they showed you a video of someone who died from water poisoning, would that scar you into never touching water again?

Unlike water, tobacco is not necessary for me to continue living, so probably not.

[Oceander]

Unlike water, tobacco is not necessary for me to continue living, so probably not.

Ok.  What about alcohol poisoning?  Or are you a teetotaler?

[Dexter]

Ok.  What about alcohol poisoning?  Or are you a teetotaler?

I can easily avoid alcohol poisoning by having self control. I do enjoy my beer.

[EC]

I can easily avoid alcohol poisoning by having self control. I do enjoy my beer.

Take a bit of time right now to savor how lucky you are. 

[mountaineer]

Several years ago, we were talking to a very wealthy gay friend who said he had visited Cuba and stated with some authority that Raul Castro is queer as a three dollar bill. Or Barack Obama, as the case may be.