President Obama made a statement from the White House on Wednesday at noon expanding upon an earlier announcement that his administration is working to normalize full diplomatic relations with Cuba.
"I believe we can do more to support the Cuban people and our values through engagement," Obama said. "These 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked. It's time for a new approach."
"We will end an outdated approach that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests and, instead, we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries."
"Neither the American or the Cuban people are well-served by a policy that's rooted in events that took place before any of us were born," Obama said.
Obama littered Spanish phrases throughout his speech, at one point proclaiming, "Todos somos Americanos," meaning, "We are all Americans."
According to supporters of the decision to normalize Cuban relations, one of the most promising statements made by Obama during his speech addressed lifting the still standing commercial, economic and financial embargo in place against the country since 1960.
"I look forward to engaging Congress in an honest debate on lifting this embargo," Obama said, although it's still unclear whether the president can even get congressional support for such a move.
During a pre-speech press conference call, senior administration officials explained a few specific elements of the new policy. The U.S. will resume diplomatic relations with Cuba, work to remove Cuba's state sponsor of terror designation and relax travel and commercial restrictions.
According to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the deal will also bring about the opening of a U.S. embassy in Havana in the coming months, and will normalize banking and trade ties, The Associated Press reported.
Cuban President Raul Castro gave a simultaneous speech that was broadcast on the country's state television and radio.
The announcements also coincided with a prisoner exchange - American aid worker Alan Gross, who was held on spying charges for five years in a Cuban prison, in exchange for the release of three Cubans held in a Florida prison on spying charges.
Wednesday morning, Rubio, a Cuban-American member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, commented on the decision, referring to it as "absurd" and as giving "unilateral concessions in exchange for nothing," the AP reported.
According to Rubio, Obama is the "single worst negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime."
Rubio's office later released a statement saying the senator would "make every effort to block this dangerous and desperate attempt," The Huffington Post reported.
"Appeasing the Castro brothers will only cause other tyrants from Caracas to Tehran to Pyongyang to see that they can take advantage of President Obama's naiveté during his final two years in office," Rubio said.
"As a result, America will be less safe as a result of the President's change in policy. When America is unwilling to advocate for individual liberty and freedom of political expression 90 miles from our shores, it represents a terrible setback for the hopes of all oppressed people around the globe."
