US and Cuba to restore diplomatic ties

The United States and Cuba are set to restore diplomatic ties over 50 years after Washington had cut them during the Cold War.

US President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for an end to his country’s trade embargo against Cuba.

"Today the US is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba,” Obama said. “We'll begin to normalise relations between our two nations. Through these changes, we intend to create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a new chapter.”

Obama and Cuban president Raul Castro agreed during a phone call on Wednesday to open embassies in each other’s countries, to ease trade restrictions, and to exchange prisoners. These deals follow around 18 months of secret diplomacy talks between the two nations.

"In the coming months, we will re-establish an embassy in Havana and carry out high-level exchanges and visits between our two governments as part of the normalisation process,” Obama said.

"This decision by President Obama deserves respect and recognition by our people," Castro said in a televised address.

Coba released US citizen Alan Gross, who had been jailed in Cuba for five years, and an intelligence agent who had spied for the US and who had been held in Cuba for nearly 20 years.

Gross was jailed after being found guilty of importing banned technology and of trying to establish clandestine internet service for Cuban Jews. His jailing had been a major obstacle in the way of improving diplomatic ties.

In return, the US freed three Cuban intelligence agents- Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, and Antonio Guerrero- the last three remaining prisoners from the “Cuban Five”, a group arrested in Miami in 1998 and convicted in 2001 of spying for Cuba’s government. The three were given a hero’s welcome on their return to Cuba.