the president didn't want to go to panama with cuba a over his head. in terms of the substance of what happens now, maybe we can turn to other issues on the inter-american agenda that need to be addressed. human rights issue, i share your skepticism. prisoners, there's this announcement of 53 to be cal prisoners released -- it is not clear to been released e -- it may happen slowly. the question then is if months from now they will be picked up again. i think the harassment of activists will continue. to shift from throwing them in a long time to holding them for sure times. i think it happen without interruption. signal or not s a is yet to say. other points that president it ma mention, and rolled -- , is reader access greater access to the internet. there has been an information blockade on the cuban people for years, that has to change. it is really bereft of series and other, material. there is tv -- state-controlled. that has to be addressed. given the proximity to us, it could be a breakthrough. other commitments -- monitors -- that an interesti

the president did not want to go to panama with cuba hanging over his head and dominating the proceedings. i think it was very important. in terms of the substance of what happens now, maybe we can now turn to the other issues on the inter-american agenda than need to be addressed. that's a good thing. on the human rights issue, i also share your skepticism. with the political prisoners, there's an understanding announcement of 53 political prisoners to be released but it's not clear that they have been released yet. it might happen slowly. it's not clear. months from about now they will be picked up again and harassed -- i think the harassment of political activist will continue. it has shifted from throwing him in jail for a long time to these much shorter-term detentions and release. siblanco had their sunday march yesterday and i don't think was interrupted. i think it happened without interruption and whether that is a signal it's too early to say. the other two points worth mentioning that the president emphasized is freedom of the internet or greater access to the internet. an info

panama in april. >> improved relations with the united states to make cuba renounce ideals that it has spent a century fighting for, that it's people have spilt so much blood for. >> correspondent is in cuban capitol. >> this is only the second time that we've heard from the cuban leader raul castro after the big announcement on wednesday. this is very much an anticipated speech that he gave in front of the national assembly here in the capitol of havana. his key mention was this: while there is going to be a relationship between equals between the cubans and the americans as they push for better diplomatic and economic ties, castro said that any change here on the island and how fast that change might be implemented here will be done and dictated by the cuban people themselves. and castro also indicated that there would be no change in the socialist revolution here in cuba. he said that only half jokingly happens socialist revolution can go on for another 200 years in his words. so this was very much a speech in some ways to douse a little bit of cold water on some kind of wild expectations that ther

with venezuela. venezuela and cuba have very close relations. this will probably help the u.s. and cuba will attend the summit of the americas next year in panama's a sign of the things to come and will have an impact the relationship the u.s. has with others. obviously a normalization of the relation between cuba and the united states is a very big deal. >> it's a huge, huge deal, an historic moment that has just happened. juan carlos, stand by. i want to bring in democratic senator ben cardin of maryland. i understand, senator, you were there when alan gross landed, his wife, judy, landed, the others landed after five years of captivity, being held a prisoner in cuba. he's from rockville, maryland, one of your constituents. did you have a chance to speak with him there at joint base andrews? >> i did, wolf. we had a chance not only to see him and say hello to him but to talk to him a little bit about his experiences in cuba. it was quite an emotional moment, particularly on this first day of hanukkah, what a miracle to see him with his family again. it was an emotional day and we had a real good opportunity to get his assessment. >> what was

have to be after we cleaned up in cuba, we went on with building factories, cities, everything. as for me well, i went to panamaonnecting the atlantic and pacific. a little job. ♪ jim wasn't there. but his sons were. serving with the 813th pioneer regiment near marseilles. the 302nd battalion and eighth pioneer regiment. fighting with the 8th illinois on the swason front. 372nd on the plains of francois. 331st at busey farm. 369th in the argon. 369th fought on the line of fire for 191 days. not a man ever captured. not a foot of ground ever lost. the first american troops to receive 369th. for action above and beyond the call of duty, many received honored medals. when they cleaned up in france the boys came marching home. ♪ >> among them was henry johnson, who was one companion, needham roberts, killed four and captured 48 germans for which the french nation decorated them for exceptional bravery. and there were those among the honored at arlington. samuel washington, walter watters, william fox, john simms, young charles young, colonel, united states army. and to their memory, sermon and stones and bronze. tr

with vietnam. >> cuba will now be welcome to next year's summit of the americas in panama where in the past u.s. efforts to press for human rights reforms were often deflected by complaints about america's unpopular cuba policy. >> we pause for a greater debate. whether or not cuba has a policy for its own people and whether they will continue to get away with trampling the basic and human rights that the united states has long championed. >> and the united states bold initiative brought effusive reactions from alan gross who accused both countries of mutually belligerent policies. >> 75 and a half decades of history shows us such belligerence inhibits judgment. two wrongs never make a right. >> gross says he has the utmost fondness and respect for the cuban people and regards the olive branch that president obama extended as a game changer which he says he fully supports. the white house lopes that time will show gross is right. >> jamie mcintyre. jonathan betz. >> this is a 50 year plus divide that began as the president pointed out before many of us were even born. cheers from cuba to miami.

with vietnam. fighting a war. cuba will be koimed to the summit of americans and panama. in the past, often pressing for human rights was deflected. >> now that the policy is changes, we hope to foster a greater debate as to whether or not cuba has the right policy when it comes to their people, and whether they'll get away with trampling basic human rights. >> and the president's bold initiative drew prays from the man it benefitted. aid worker alan gross. released from five years of captivity. >> 5.5 decades of history shows bellagerens inhib its better judgment. two wrongs never make a right. gross has the utmost fondness and respect to the human people and regards the olive branch as a game challenger that he supports. the white house hopes time will show that gross is right. >> jamie mcintyre, for much of the last half century u.s. and cuba have been at odds. jonathan betz is here with a look at it. >> reporter: this is a 50-year plus divide that began before many of us were born. >> reporter: tears from cuba to miami. after astounding words from a u.s. president. 50

with cuba. in april they will both be at the oas summit in panama. this is the first time cuba and the u.s. they are setting the stage for what could be a meeting. there will be a trip by john kerry at the beginning of february to start talking about opening up the embassy. this is all a big step that is overshadowed today. the president might have been dog a victory lap and we will have to answer questions on north korea. a pentagon video was released showing the arrival of alan gross and john kerry simultaneously landing and arriving and their conversation. it's an interesting video that shows kerry and gross saying and conversing. you can overhear them saying i'm not -- i don't like this cuban regime. i'm not a fan of theirs. this is not stockholm syndrome. i didn't become aligned with them. kerry said neither are we. the president is hoping to leverage this kind of agreement into making them behave better. there is a nuance that you will hear from the president. he is not embracing or endorsing the raul castro regime. he said that almost 54 years of isolation has not worked. >> well sai

recently, cuba was involved in an arms trade with north korea, putting mig airplanes through the panama canal hidden under a cargo ship. this is a country still on the list of terrorist countries. i presume they will now unilaterally again take them off the list. that doesn't mean the cubans' actions don't put them in a different category from the way that china behaves towards the united states and the way that frankly, vietnam might behave towards the united states. very different relationship. >> is it your judgment as we watch a new senate led by the republican party come into town in january, that we are going to see an effort to roll back this president's unilateralism and his approach to even those who agree with the idea of working out a new relationship with cuba? certainly they would not agree with this unilateral approach, waiting to the first day that congress is no longer in washington. >> i know, it's remarkable to do it on this particular day. you know, my successor in the senate, marco rubio, has already said today they will be looking at what can be done but you know, i

cuba. for the short-term in panama with the summit of the americas, castro is the man of the hour. ve a nice meeting because the latin-americans won't feel all the pressure about cuba. but let's see how this thing is going six months, one year from now. this could backfire in a very big way. and i would not, you know -- i would not urge businesses to go down and start plunking down money or thinking they can plunk down money. >> we had a guest earlier in the show who suggested that some of this may be illegal that congress may actually jump in and act to change things. do you think that's the case? >> you know, the helms-burton act which is really the embargo is codified into law. so the embargo cannot be lifted without a vote. when you get into whether you can open an embassy, how far you can go on commercial ties, there are going to be things there that may overlap at the embargo. so this is another thing that could derail this. now, the cubans know this.  w, the cubans know this. derailed in a matter of months, a matter of weeks, in a year. but in the meantime, they got what the

panama. raul castro will be there and the president can have a face-to-face encounter with castro and go to cubahat. my sense is that is too early but it would be historic because if you think about this, the last u.s. president to step foot on cuba was harry truman, it appears from looking back at records, back in 1948 when he went to guantanamo. going back to calvin coolidge going to havana before that. so it is historic and have the blessing of the pope, i gather, from his involvement in this as well. >> that is irony. the involvement of harry truman and guantanamo. >>> and up next, shocking video of the horrific act of 312 school children that died while taking an exam. and jeanne moos with unusual robberie robberies. this one caught on tape. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪ and mama loves you. what if one push up couldcoli cprevent heart disease?cancer? one. wishful thinking, right? but there is one step

the president will cross paths with castro at the summit of the americas in panama. it will be the first time cuba is attending. the two leaders spoke for 55 minutes by phone and it is the first time they have had a conversation since the revolution. that comes on the heels of an historic handshake at nelson mandela's funeral last year. >> there are those on capitol hill criticizing the president's move and the prisoner swap. what are they saying? >> the prisoner swap, we just heard that it's three prisoners heading back to cuba. they were spies, part of the so-called cuban five, hailed as heroes back in their home country. in exchange, the u.s. got -- was able to get an asset that had been behind bars in cuba for 20 years. the u.s. government is careful to say that the return of alan gross was on humanitarian grounds and not part of this direct prisoner swap because they want to have daylight between him and americans working for u.s. aid as contractors and spice. that's getting pushback from those in congress, including the one democratic in the senate who's very upset at what the president has

the other piece that there's going the summit in panama that for the first time the oas said to the united states we're not going along with excluding cubahese meetings. cuba is invited. raul castro will be there as well as barack obama in panama. this is the first chance for a real engagement whether or not it happens, whether or not it's one of those hand shabs. i think it will happen. there will be tests. they are releasing those 53 prisoners. one of the big tests is the ladies in white, the women who every sunday go to church and march because of all the political prisoners. will they continue to be harassed. will they be locked up? i was told last night at the state department that we are seeing and this is not by some of the advocates of the policy this is by some of the people who have been working in the latin america bureau and really concerned that now there won't be enough leverage, seeing these prisoners have been released of the 53. there are going moments. i won't tell you that this administration won't lean over backwards to see the glass being half full but john kerry will go there in january or february, if these steps t

with him? >> in fact, that is a good point. i think we should increase the measures that we take against cuba. for example, the violation of human sanctions. in the panamaal, a ship that left cuba was intercepted. on that shift was illegal items. the government did nothing. and it should have. this government has been slow to criticize cuban human rights the past few r months. a ship that left cuba was intercepted. this government accepted their attendance at the summit, a summit that was put together by a collection of democracies. was never intended to include a communistic dictatorship, which is what cuba is. i disagree in what he has done about it. this argument that somehow the embargo has not worked, therefore let's try something completely different. sounds good on paper, but here's the reality. just because we change our does not wards cuba, mean allow we allow cuba to do whatever it wants. yes, maybe there will be more telecommunications companies in cuba. but what people are able to view on the internet is going to be completely controlled by the cuban government. where people are going to spend that money is completely by the cuban government

with cuba last week. while he was not allowed conjugal visits, hernandez was able to impregnate his wife by having his frozen sperm transferred to his wife in panama u.s. officials, funded by the cuban government, and facilitated by a staffer for vermont senator patrick leahy. the process reportedly helped set a softer tone between cuba and the united states, which culminated in the resumption of diplomatic ties and the release of two u.s. prisoners, including usaid contractor alan gross. and gerardo hernandez and his wife, adriana perez, are now expecting a baby girl. senator leahy appeared on "today" to discuss what happened. >> ok, we will do this if you do that. we just didn't as a human -- as humans. ofto improve the conditions alan gross's prison cell. the major medic improvements. didn't release him, but major medic improvements. letter froma cursing she was pregnant and -- and we got a letter from her sexual pregnant and thanking us. i felt like a godfather or something. the joy on his face, especially the joy on hers, and they're going to have a little girl. >> senator leahy questioned yes longtime aide facilitated this. for more we're jo

with cuba last week. while he was not allowed conjugal visits, hernandez was able to impregnate his wife by having his frozen sperm transferred to his wife in panama, a process authorized by u.s. officials, funded by the cuban government and facilitated by a staffer for vermont senator patrick leahy. the process reportedly helped set a softer tone between cuba and the united states which culminated in the resumption of diplomatic ties and the release of two u.s. prisoners, including usaid contractor alan gross. and gerardo hernandez and his wife, adriana perez, are now expecting a baby girl. and those are some of the headlines this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron mate. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. calls are increasing for the obama administration to prosecute bush administration officials connected to the cia torture program. on monday, the american civil liberties union and human rights watch sent a letter to attorney general eric holder urging him to appoint a special prosecutor to probe the crimes detailed in the senate intellig

panama, which is hosting the next summit of the americas in april, the countries like brazil and mexico and argentina who have been pushing the obama administration for years now to normalize relations with cubaamerican countries basically have said to the obama administration, we're going to boycott the next summit in less cuba is included. you are going to be isolated, not cuba. and so raul castro has been invited and has accepted as part of the package of changes of policy that president obama announced yesterday, he said, i am going to the summit. he said i'm going to bring some dissident and voices of democracy with me, but he says, i am going. for the first time, you have an opportunity in 55 years for the president of the united states and the president of cuba to sit around a table, discuss multilateral and bilateral relations. have 20, we just seconds. i want to ask about the significance of the pope weighing in on this agreement. secretpope was a intermediary in our back channel to cuba. we write about all of the intermediaries over these years. lilly, back channel diplomacy led to where we are today. now we are situation, open diplomacy, over t diplomacy. works peter kornbluh, than

with the statement of the policy of the past five decades have not worked? >> i think we should increase the measures that we've taken against cuba. the year, a ship that left panamanal was intercepted on that boat were goods were embargoed -- the u. s. did nothing. this government has been slowed to criticize cuban human rights violations. this government accepted cuba's of the americas iq of summit put - a together to defend democracy, include a dictatorial regime, like cuba. this argument of embargo has not worked, it sounds good on paper. but, just because we change our policy in cuba does not mean the cuba will allow us to do that we want. potentially be more american telecommunication companies in cuba. but, who the people be able to call, or what they will build do an internet will be controlled by the cuban government. yes, more trips will be allowed, but that will be controlled by the cuban government. to will all be controlled their benefit. they will not agree to anything grip on tabilizes their power. these sorts of -- [speaking in spanish] answer that question -- it's on the cuban list of state sponsors on terror. a think the north korea is terrorist