What role did Pope Francis play in the breakthrough with Cuba?
Looking back on America’s complicated relationship with Cuba
Today’s announcement of a diplomatic breakthrough with Cuba reverses the policy of nine U.S. Presidents dating back to 1961. Anderson looks at the complicated and often messy history that led to this moment.
During President Jimmy Carter’s adminstration, he tried to normalize ties with Cuba and recently worked to win Alan Gross’ freedom. Tonight he told Anderson that if he had more time in the White House, there would have been full diplomatic relations with Cuba back then.
Where is Elián González now?
Randi Kaye reports on the international custody battle over Elián González 13 years ago, and what's happened since then.
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How CNN reporter found abducted kids
CNN's Patrick Oppmann explains how he tracked down a sailboat in Cuba that an American couple used to take their two kids from Florida.
Family that fled to Cuba found
CNN's John Zarrella reports on two young brothers taken by their parents, who lost custody of the children, from Florida to Cuba.
Beyonce and Jay-Z's controversial trip
Superstar couple Beyonce and Jay-Z are drawing scrutiny for vacationing in Cuba to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. U.S. law prohibits citizens from traveling there for tourism.
Two conservative Cuban-American members of Congress are asking U.S. Treasury officials to look into whether the couple had the proper paperwork.
"I'm not saying that they should be politicians, but be sensitive to the cruelty of this regime, what they've done to the people of Cuba. It's just a shame to make it look like an exotic vacation, shameful," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Cuban-American Florida Senator Marco Rubio also weighed in on Twitter. In a lengthier statement, he criticized the Obama administration's updated policy that allows for visiting Cuba as part of the "people to people" program.
U.S., Cuba set to talk about immigration issues
Charley Keyes
CNN Senior Producer
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/WORLD/americas/04/25/cuba.municipal.elections/story.cuba.jpg caption="Relations between Washington and Havana have deteriorated in recent months" width=300 height=169]
Washington (CNN) - U.S. and Cuban officials are set to sit down together in Washington on Friday to discuss immigration and other issues, according to a State Department spokesman.
"The U.S. views the migration talks as an important opportunity for both the United States and Cuban governments to discuss policies and procedures that promote safe, legal, and orderly migration," State Department spokesman Michael Tran told CNN Sunday.
Relations between Washington and Havana have deteriorated in recent months, in part because of Cuba's detention of American contractor Alan Gross, who has been held in Cuban prison since December. The two countries have not formally held immigration talks since February and next week provides another chance for the U.S. to call for his release.
An end to the battle of the billboards
[cnn-photo-caption image="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/americas/07/26/cubal.tough.times/art.rcastro.gi.jpg" caption="President Raul Castro speaks to a crowd yesterday on the 56th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. He has taken down anti-U.S. billboards."]
Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer
It was the US government's version of the ticker in New York's Times Square, blasting Havana's main seaside strip with anti-Cuba propaganda in five-foot high crimson letters. It symbolized the tit-for-tat diplomatic row between Washington and Havana.
But the ticker at the top of the US interests section in Cuba has gone blank, yet another signal the past half century of animosity between the two countries is easing
State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said the ticker was turned off in June because it was not considered an "effective" as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people.
The scrolling electronic sign, fitted across 25 windows of the US interest section, ran quotes from American heroes like Martin Luther King's, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up" and Abraham Lincoln's, "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."
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How many Gitmo prisoners return to fight?
Program Note: Peter Bergen will be on tonight talking about the situation in Afghanistan. Tune in AC360° 10p ET.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/07/20/bergen.guantanamo/art.peter.bergen.cnn.jpg caption="Peter Bergen says it's crucial to know how many ex-Guantanamo prisoners have gone back to the fight."]
Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann
Special to CNN
As President Obama awaits formal recommendations this month on issues surrounding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is crucial that policymakers and the public have an accurate picture of the threat to the United States posed by those detainees already released.
Contrary to recent assertions that one in seven, or 14 percent, of the former prisoners had "returned to the battlefield," our analysis of Pentagon reports, news stories and other public records indicates that the number who were confirmed or suspected to be involved in anti-U.S. violence is closer to one in 25, or 4 percent.
During his first week in office, Obama signed an executive order directing that the Guantanamo prison be closed by January 22, 2010, and suspending the system of military commissions that existed to deal with detainees in what the Bush administration termed the war on terror.
Caving in to Cuba – or killing a Cold War relic?
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/americas/06/03/cuba.oas/art.hillary.gi.jpg]
Jill Dougherty
CNN Foreign Affairs Editor
Forty-seven years after Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States, the 34-member organization has decided to revoke that decision and allow Cuba to rejoin.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who represented the United States at the meeting, called the decision a “consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past.”
The move by the OAS to lift the Cold-War-era suspension does not mean that Cuba immediately regains its seat; it can return to the OAS if the OAS decides that the island nation’s participation is in line with the purposes and principles of the organization, especially in its protection of democracy and human rights. Secretary Clinton said Cuba’s rejoining the OAS was “down the road – if it ever chooses to seek reentry.”
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