WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama announced a historic overhaul of relations with Cuba on Wednesday as White House officials told reporters in Washington that the two countries were set to reopen embassies after 53 years.

“I do not believe we can continue doing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result,” said President Obama while addressing his nation from the White House.

In a statement, also released by the White House, Secretary of State John Kerry said that a US delegation would travel to Cuba next month to “discuss moving toward re-establishment of diplomatic relations”.

Roberta Jacobson, US Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, will lead this delegation.

“I look forward to being the first Secretary of State in 60 years to visit Cuba. At President Obama’s request, I have also asked my team to initiate a review of Cuba’s designation as a `state sponsor of terrorism’,” Mr Kerry said.

Presidents Obama and Castro announce decision in addresses to their nations

The move came hours after Cuba announced release of an American hostage, Alan Gross.

President Obama argued that the US policy of isolating Cuba had not worked in 50 years and that’s why he believed that more could be accomplished through engagement.

Mr Obama said he had been ready to ease portions of the embargo “for some time”, but that Mr Gross needed to be released before he could move forward.

President Obama said the US embargo policy was “rooted in the best of intentions”, but it failed to remove the Castro regime.

Since a rigid policy, he added, failed to promote US interests, he had decided to end “an outdated approach” in place longer than he has been alive.

FACILITATORS: The US media reported that talks between Washington and Havana began in June last year and were facilitated by Canada and the Vatican.

The Vatican also issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that the Pope had expressed his warm congratulations for the historic decision taken by the governments of the United States of America and Cuba to establish diplomatic relations.

“In recent months, Pope Francis wrote letters to Presidents Raúl Castro and Barack H. Obama, and invited them to resolve humanitarian questions of common interest, including the situation of certain prisoners, in order to initiate a new phase in relations between the two parties,” the statement said.

Secretary Kerry said that since 2009, President Obama had been taking steps to change this scenario and with this new opening, the president had “committed the United States to begin to chart an even more ambitious course forward”.

Mr Kerry pointed out over the past 20 years, three US presidents — one Republican and two Democrats — made similar efforts to change the United States’ relationship with Vietnam.

“As we did with Vietnam, changing our relationship with Cuba will require an investment of time, energy and resources,” he observed.

The US described Wednesday’s development as the “biggest shift” in US-Cuba relations since formal ties were severed in 1961 — the year President Obama was born.

As Obama spoke at the White House, Cuban President Raul Castro made a similar announcement in Havana.

President Castro said he welcomed new ties with the United States, though differences between the two countries remained.

His ailing brother, and Cuba’s first communist revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, did not participate in the talks for re-establishing ties.

Mr Obama and Mr Castro spoke by phone on Tuesday about the agreement, which was the first direct contact between the leaders of the two countries since 1961.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2014