relations deserves respect and recognition by our country. and goes on to thank the vatican and the pope for helping in all of this. he said this does not mean things have been resolved. antonio mora joins us. what is your reaction. >> he really has gone further than any cuban leader has in more than five decades, in saying we have agreed to restore relations. it's a huge step. >> let's listen to marco rubio, and we'll come back. >> -- become free and open and democratic, and that's why this announcement from the white house is so profoundly disappointing. it is a victory for the oppressive cuban government, but a serious setback for the repressed cuban people. the white house has conceded everything, and gained little. they gained no commitment on the

part of the cuban regime to freedom of press or freedom of speech or elections. sno binding commitment was made to truly open up the internet, no commitment was made to allowing the establishment of political parties, or to even begin the semblance of a transition to a democracy. the only thing the cuban government agreed to do was free 53 political prisoners who could wind up in jail tomorrow morning. and allow the united nations and red cross to monitor conditions on the island. the same united nations that did nothing when cuba was caught helping north korea evade the u.s.'s sanctions. this is based on a lie and illusion that more commerce and access of money and goods will

translate to political freedom for the cuban people. all this is going to do is give the castro regime the opportunity to manipulate these changes to perpetuate and self empower. these changes will only lead to greater wealth and influence for this oppressive regime, especially the military, which controls most, if not all of the cuban economy, and controls all of its oppressed people. these changes will lead to legitimacy for a government that shamelessly, continuously abuses human rights, but it will not lead to assistance to those who's rights are being abused. it is just another concession to a tierney by the obama administration, rather than a defense of every right that our country was founded on and stands for. in short, what these changes are going to do, is they will tight

inthis regime's grip on power for decades to come, and it will significantly set back the hopes of freedom and democracy for the cuban people. i am overjoyed for alan gross and his family. he has been a hostage of this regime for far too long. our prayers are with him and his family. but this president, has proven today that his foreign policy is willfully ignorant of the way the world truly works. this administration just last week finally agreed after months of congressional pressure, to impose sanctions on the venezuelan government firme government -- officials. a government that has spent all of 2014, killing, and oppressing its own people. and yet this administration is

making historic concessions to the government that is behind venezuela. they have helped them master mind the crackdown on the venezuelan people. this policy contradiction is observe, and it is a disgraceful for a president who claims to treasure human rights and human freedom. this president is the single-worst negotiator we have had in the white house in my lifetime. who has given the cuban government everything it asked for. and received no assurances of advances in democracy and freedom in return. god bestowed on the cuban people the same rights that he did on every other man, woman, and child that has ever lived. the cuban people like all of those oppressed around the world, they look to america to

stand up for these rights to live up to our commitment to the god-given right of every person to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. these rights exist not just for people born in the continental united states, but for people everywhere. it is unacceptable that the only people in this hemisphere that do not know and have not known democracy for more than five decades is the people of cuba. that should be our overriding objective to do all we can to bring tabb political democratic openings in cuba. and then a free cuban people can decide what economic model they want. but the measures taken today will do nothing to bring about that day, and in fact i fear will significantly set it back. today by conceding to the oppressors, this president and this administration have let the people of cuba down.

>> marco rubio delivering some of the toughest language you will hear a senator deliver about a sitting president. he said president obama the single-worst negotiator in my lifetime. his foreign policy is willfully ignore rate on the way the world works, and it is a lie that this will lead to more freedom there. and antonio that is the nub of the debate. the obama administration says you open up cuba and that will lead to more freedom. and then you have folks like rubio saying it will only

strengthen the regime. >> there are the majority of americans who still support the embargo. saying it gives legitimacy to a government that has violated human rights in five decades, which is absolutely true. and that is a very emotional issue for cuban americans in miami, because many of us have suffered as a result -- or some of us suffered ourselves. so that's one important point and that's something we're going to hear from him and others on both sides of the isle on capitol hill. he said this is all based on an illusion and lie that somehow an economic opening up to cuba will lead to greater human rights. and there i think he is -- i would disagree. because i think in the

short-term he is right, it will give the cuban government more strength to hold on. but in the long term like what happened in eastern europe with the fall of communism. the opening to the west was a major factor in the fall of the iron curtain, and i think in the long term there is no question that if there is a greater openness to cuba -- although i think this goes a long way towards lifting the embargo. i think there's going to be changing in cuba no matter what in the long term. >> and that's at the heart of the debate that has been raging on for decades. there is of course, the politics with what marco rubio delivered in that speech. let's go to michael shure on that. michael the language from rubio, a lot of democrats would say it is over the top, that he can make his point without calling

him the single worst negotiator, but this is all about perhaps rubio setting the stage for a presidential run, right? >> yeah, david we may have just seen the first speech of the florida primary in 2016. i think so too. i think the language he used was particularly harsh, considering that many people are hearing this for the first time. also knowing that jeb bush is in the case, a former florida governor, with ties to that community. so, yeah, david, i think a lot of what is going on here is political posturing. it also is going to take an act of congress in order to push through some of these reforms in cuba, and some of the different ways that we posture ourselves towards that country. the helms burton acted in 1996, jesse helms was one of the

authors, that is the last piece of legislation putting embargoes in. congress still has that legislation on the books. it's going to be a lot of politics coming up on this issue. >> we could have predicted rubio's position on all of this, but i wonder how congress standings now. do you have a sense about how congress would feel now in terms of their general reaction towards the president opening up cuba, establishing diplomatic relations and asking congress to lift the trade embargo, has congress changed? >> congress has changed, so too has the cuban american voter. the [ inaudible ] which saw 125,000 cubans come here by boat in 1980. if you were 45 then, you are almost 80 now. that means you could have children, grandchildren, in some cases even great children, and a lot of that an mouse towards

cuba has been diluted as the generations have grown up, as is typical in any community that you see. the same has happened in congress. there are are three senators of latin decent right now, all three are of cuban decent. we heard from rubio, ted cruz, and bob menendez as well. it's presumed that cruz will say the same thing. they are up in arms over the president's actions. and i would predict this is going to be spun a little bit as executive action, and those are two words that have gained a lot of traction for the republicans. >> al jazeera's michael shure. we're going to take a quick break. before we go, alan and judy gross were pictured together again. here they are in cuba as alan gross was preparing to leave. again, they are back in the

united states, and this is part of a larger deal. alan gross was freed a series of cuban spies wering sent back to cuba. and cuba released a long-held u.s. spy. and a lot of credit to pope francis and the government of canada for bringing this all together. we're going to have more on the roles they played on the other side of this break. you are watching al jazeera america. ♪

>> protestors are gathering... >> there's an air of tension right now... >> the crowd chanting for democracy...

>> this is another significant development... >> we have an exclusive story tonight, and we go live... >> live reaction from the mayor of miami to the united states formalizing relations with cuba. the mayor is speaking in spanish, but saying basically what marco rubio was saying. the politics for this mayor and how this plays out? >> it's interesting david, because the politics have changed, there's no question

that the politics have changed, and he is taking the position that marco rubio did, that we're getting nothing in return. that there's no commitment to any of that. but, you know, there are interesting polls that have shown the transition in the thinking among cuban americans towards the embargo and what we should do with cuba is dramatic. florida university has been polling since 1981. in '81, 87% supported the embargo, now 68% favor diplomatic relations with cuba. but a slight majority of registered voters still favor a tougher line on cuba. so it's still a hot political issue in miami. >> david what was the sense the cuban people had towards america in >> in 2008 when president obama

was elected, it was a watershed moment. there was a sense that something was going to change. and when alan gross was detained that all came to an end. because up until that point we had a number of liberallizations going on, increased travel for cuban americans, you could send more money back, and even trade was on the board. the embargo was a 1 way street. you talk to idaho farmers and they are talking about expanding to cuba. it was the expansion the other way that seemed to be on the table. >> if you are just watching, president obama announced that the united states will normalize relations with cuba. the united states will establish an embassy in cuba. he will allow americans to increase travel and trade with

cuba. as part of the deal, cuba released a long-held u.s. spy who the president said had been providing extremely important intelligen intelligence. and the united states released three cuban spies who had been arrested in florida, and as a part of this, the cuban government released alan gross, an aid worker who went to cuba, who was trying to provide internet access to the jewish community there, five years ago. he was arrested. alan gross is now back, and we're expecting an news conference from him within an hour. senator marco rubio said the president's reactions were a profound disappointment. the u.n. secretary general ban ki moon reacted just a short time ago, and here is what he said. >> this news is very positive.

i would like to thank, president barack obama of the united states, and the president raul castro for taking this very important step towards normalizing relations. i sincerely hope that this announcement will help to exfurther the exchanges between the two peoples who have been separated quite a long time. >> again, praise from ban ki moon at the united nations. they credited both pope francis, and the government of canada for bringing these pieces together. mike any more information about the roll pope francis played in this? >> fascinating really david when you look at how this has unfolded. particularly off it accelerated over the course of the last month, and the vat tan and pope

francis playing that instrumental role in securing this agreement. you have to look at this as a confluence of circumstances lining up together. and even though president obama is a lame duck, with just two years left in his term, and we have seen evidence of that already, in democrats not marching in line behind the president, but there is still power in the presidency, and no one saw this coming. so it is a combination of pope francis, who of course is an argentine, who has spoken out repeatedly about latin america, and comes from that part of the world, a second-term president -- no hah matter what the americas, i cannot imagine president obama taking this step if he were facing reelection in two years. and there is still the matter of a very large and important swing state of florida, and as antonio

and david mention, the economy in cuba continues to deteriorate. the international pressure, the isolation of the united states over this issue is nothing new, although the last vote at the united nations on this question of an embargo of the united states, the united states was on the short end of that by a count of 192-2. so the president saying that you do something for five decades, it is clearly not working it's time to change strategy. what a dramatic event for the president, to be on the phone for 45 minutes last night with raul castro, the first and really only communication we know about in some five decades. >> indeed. jamie if memory serves me

directly, president obama had an impromptu handshake with raul castro at nelson mandela's funeral this year. but this is taking a lot of people by surprise. >> and one of the things that people are debating is what did the united states actually get out of this deal? that was part of the criticism from marco rubio, and one benefit the u.s. right reap from this, is support from many of the countries in this hemisphere as mike viqueira pointed out, the u.s. was pretty much alone in the world in supporting this embargo. and it was a problem for other countries in central and south america, because whenever the u.s. was trying to engage them on other issues, the topic would always come back to the cuba policy. why did the u.s. not change its cuba policy.

so there's a feeling here at the white house that by taking this step, they may have removed a significant diplomatic roadblock to make progress on other issues, something that is going to be -- this may get sharp criticism from members of congress, but it is pretty much going to be widely applauded among the countries in the western hemisphere. and when the president goes to that summit of the americas, they have a chance there to set a completely different tone. part of the benefit that the white house and the administration would argue from this, is the idea that they can use this as a way to move on many other issues on many other fronts. >> jamie you were pointing out earlier that one of the keys of the administration being able to defend against this, is this was not the release of alan gross for the three spies. that cuba in fact had released

an american spy who had been held there for 20 years. how significant is that? and what can we expect in terms of the information we'll start to get about the value of the spy, because that does seem to be the linchpin to the argument that did the united states get anything out of this deal? >> i don't think anyone would argue that full diplomatic relations with cuba was traded for one person. but that was the road black that was standing in the way of further communications. and it may seem like this happened overnight, but it certainly didn't. it started with various small overtures, with communications and back channels, and meetings that went on in canada, and a

meeting at the vatican, and then the two presidents actually talking out the very, very final details before this was all announced. so this was a long process, a delib aretive process, and it is pretty significant that it was able to be kept secret all this time. as for the role of that u.s. intelligence asset as the white house is calling the spy who was released. it will be interesting to see if we ever hear the whole story behind him. his debitty has been kept secret up until this point. >> jamie macintyre in washington. you also have to wonder how much political coverage the obama administration may get. and mike how do you view the overall politics of this? do you agree with mike viqueira? >> yeah, i certainly don't think -- you know, it's a hypothetical. i think mike is right, i don't think it's a risk that a

president would have taken in their first term. i think that if you wait until your second term, you have the safety. you have the cover to be able to do something like this. but again there is a lot of work yet to be done. marco rubio is going to be the chairman of the subcommittee of the foreign relations committee on the westen hemisphere. so he is going to ultimately going to have to pass the ambassador to cuba. and that's not going to be an easy task. >> al jazeera's michael shure. we have a lot coming up in our next half hour. we are expecting a news conference from alan gross and his belief -- wife. he has been kept in captivity in

cuba for five years. he will do a news conference. we'll bring that to you. and at the top of the hour, we're going to try to put this in historical context. and we'll continue to get political and economic reaction. that is coming up, and we'll take a quick break -- do you want to give a final word before our break? >> one of the interesting things is the diplomatic angle, because it does seem like this has been in the works for a while. because the man in charge of the intersection in cuba since august is a man who has ambassadorial level, which is unusual. so this may going on for a while. and we have been talking about the vatican. david was there when pope benedict visits. so i wonder if the role of the vatican has been going on for a

long time. >> we'll talk more about that on the other side of this break. a hum change in our relationship with cuba. you are watch al jazeera america. real characters... >> creator of "all in the family" "the jeffersons" and "good times" talks race, comedy and american culture today... >> you're taking me to a place in this interview, i haven't been before... >> i told you this would be your best interview >> ...and it is... it's the current one... >> every monday, join us for exclusive... revealing... and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time... talk to al jazeera, only on al jazeera america

>> you know how they say that everybody has a purpose in life? well, at one time i felt that selling cocaine was my purpose. >> we were starving just looking for a way to succeed. >> the first time that i seen rock cocaine was 1980. >> the murder rate was sky-high. >> south of the ten freeway was kind of a no-man's land. >> he said, "ya know, we're selling it to the blacks, you go into these neighborhoods, there's no cops, you can sell to who every you want and when they start killing each other no body cares. >> i was going through like a million dollars worth of drugs just about every day. >> that's like gold! we can make a fortune. >> he was maybe the biggest guy in la. >> freeway rick was getting his dope from a very big operator.

i think we're into something that's bigger than us, something we really can't deal with. >> they had been trafficking on behalf of the united states government. >> she could prove what she was saying. >>♪ crack in the system

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm david schuster center new york. already some historians are ca calling this most dramatic changes in foreign policy in a decade. president obama announced 54 years of policy of isolation towards cuba will be changed. the u.s. will normalize relations, establish an emabout as is in havana, will open up trade and ask congress to open up trade embargo. as part of all of this the cuban government earlier released a