When Barack Obama shook hands with Raul Castro, they both knew that their diplomats were negotiating a prisoner exchange and a radical shift in bilateral relations. The symbolic handshake was small potatoes compared with what their governments were discussing. The decisions announced from Havana and Washington on December 17, 2014 came as a surprise to the press and public opinion in both countries: a total surprise.
But the encounter at the stadium in Soweto in South Africa to the call between the White House and the Palace of the Revolution had to walk a long way … literally. Cuban diplomats took flights to Canada and the Vatican to meet secretly with US officials. Under these conditions of total secrecy, negotiations lasted for 18 months.
The issue didn’t stay at mid-level. Even John Kerry reached on four occasions Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, while the dialogues elapsed. The Secretary of State told the chief diplomat of the Caribbean nation that Gross was the key to a new relationship between Washington and Havana. The fate of this man would determine all.
This and other details were revealed by US officials to news agency Associated Press (AP), who confirmed that the Obama administration began the efforts of its rapprochement with Cuba at the beginning of his second term.
“Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser to Obama, and Ricardo Zuniga, advisor on Latin America, traveled to Canada for the first nine meetings with their Cuban counterparts,” explains the information published by AP.
Dan Restrepo, former Obama adviser for Latin America, confessed to EFE that the approach to Cuba has been brewing since the beginning of the first period of Obama. Restrepo was not involved in the negotiations, as he left the Democratic administration in 2012.
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Pope Francisco was not involved in the talks until the Obama traveled to the Vatican in March 2014. On that occasion, he mentioned the possibility of a rapprochement with Cuba to the US president. Months later, he brought back the issue in a letter to the White House. A letter also reached the office of Raul Castro.
The Sumo Catholic Pontiff asked both leaders in writing to end the rift between their countries. Months later, the Vatican welcomed recent meetings that occurred in the fall 2014.
Another South American, Uruguayan President José Mujica, also took steps, admitting that his government “put its humble bit, just trying to help a policy that sought to thaw.”
On December 16, 2014, negotiators put an end to their work. They entered the Oval Office of the White House: Ben Rhodes and Ricardo Zuniga remained seated, while their boss was talking with Raul Castro.
45 minutes of conversation and consensus were enough to bury 55 years of hostility and mistrust. When Barack Obama and Raul Castro put the handset on the phone, everything was arranged. The rest is history.
Along these 18 months castro regimen jailed more than 9000 cubans for political reasons, killed several cubans while escaping the country by sea, expelled out their homes several families that opposed regime, sent mobs to beat and repress women asking the freedom of their relatives jailed for political reasons, organized several punishment operation using police force and paramilitary forces on political opponents……… all these while obama was planing to give this criminal regime a saving hand that will allow it to continue killing, beating, jailing and repressing……. good job obama.