Cuban thaw
The Cuban thaw was a normalization of Cuba–United States relations from July 2015 to June 2017, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations. In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. The diplomatic détente was reversed by the U.S. government – under both presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden – due to a variety of subsequent geopolitical issues. Modern diplomatic relations are cold, stemming from historic conflict and divergent political ideologies.
The initial easing of relations was mediated by Pope Francis and hosted by Canada after multilateral dialogue with First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Raúl Castro in 2014. A normalization agreement was put in place that year, easing the U.S. embargo against Cuba. The agreement would lift restrictions on the Cuban travel ban, remittances to Cuba, and access to the Cuban financial system. The U.S. embassy in Havana and Cuban embassy in Washington both re-opened, previously designated as latent "interests sections". In 2015, the U.S. waived Cuba's designation as a State Sponsors of Terrorism in a major U.S. foreign policy divergence.
Relations deteriorated sharply over the status of human rights in Cuba. The inauguration of President Trump in 2017 led to a reversal of accommodative U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba. The U.S. embargo was significantly tightened with a travel ban preceding heightened restrictions on financial transactions benefiting the Cuban armed forces. The U.S. government further retaliated for protest crackdowns and human rights abuse in 2021 and again in 2024. Since the Cuban thaw, both nations have contested issues on counterterrorism, immigration, electoral interference, financial claims, fugitive extradition and Cuban foreign policy.
Prisoner exchange
In May 2012, it was reported that the U.S. had declined a "spy swap" proposed by the Cuban government, wherein the remaining three of an original group of Cuban prisoners the U.S. had convicted of espionage known as the Cuban Five, in prison in the U.S. since the 1990s, would be returned to Cuba in exchange for USAID contractor Alan Gross. Gross had been imprisoned in Cuba for providing illegal cellphone chips of a type used by CIA agents, which are designed to evade detection, in addition to computer equipment, satellite phones, and internet access to Cuba's Jewish community.Despite initial U.S. refusals, the prisoner swap took place in December 2014 following Obama's announcement of intent to move towards normalized relations. In addition to Gross, the swap included Rolando Sarraff Trujillo, a Cuban who had worked as an agent for American intelligence and had been imprisoned for nearly 20 years. Additionally, the Cuban government releasing 53 imprisoned dissidents, as requested by the United States.
The prisoner swap marked the biggest shift in White House policy towards Cuba since the imposition of the United States embargo against Cuba in 1962, and removed a key obstacle to bilateral relations. Gross became a vocal advocate of the normalization of relations, even offering to visit Cuba again in support of such a result.
Easing of travel and trade restrictions
Although the embargo can only be ended by the U.S. Congress, the Obama administration took executive action to ease some restrictions on travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens, as well as restrictions on the import and export of goods between each country. In his 2015 State of the Union Address to Congress, Obama called on lawmakers to lift the embargo, a message he reiterated in his 2016 address.In February 2015, Conan O'Brien became the first American television personality to film in Cuba after the thaw, and only the third in more than half a century, culminating in the first Conan Without Borders special. In May 2015, the Minnesota Orchestra performed several concerts in Havana, the first professional U.S. orchestra to play in Cuba since 1999.
Major League Baseball held talks about playing spring training games in Cuba in 2015 but lacked time to arrange them. On March 22, 2016, the Tampa Bay Rays played an exhibition game against the Cuba national team at Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana with Obama and Castro in attendance.
Sun Country Airlines began operating charter flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Havana's José Martí International Airport. The United States granted approval to four companies to offer chartered ferry service between Miami and Cuba. Carnival Cruise Line received permission from Cuba to resume cruises from Miami to Havana for the first time in 50 years. Cuba, however, still prohibited the Cuban-born from returning by sea, and Carnival therefore refused to accept reservations from the Cuban-born. Following public protests against such an exclusionary policy, Carnival told the Cuban authorities it would not sail unless the policy was changed; the Cuban government relented, and the first Carnival cruise sailed from Miami on May 1, 2016.
Between January and May 2015, the number of Americans visiting Cuba who had no family ties there was 36% higher than during the same months in 2014. A report by the Pew Research Center found that the number of Cubans entering the U.S. in 2015 was 78% higher than in 2014.
Normalization of relations
It has been said that the United States–Cuban thaw was spurred by Cuba's main international partner, Venezuela, which was experiencing sharp economic decline. Venezuela subsidized the government of Cuba, but following the oil price drop resulting from the 2010s oil glut, it could no longer afford to do so.Bilateral talks
On January 21, 2015, the United States and Cuba began bilateral talks in Havana to discuss further normalization issues. The U.S. delegation was led by U.S. assistant secretary of state Roberta S. Jacobson, and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Cuba's head of North American affairs. The talks reportedly centered around migration policy. In particular, Cuban representatives urged the U.S. to end its immigration privileges to Cuban refugees, also known as the wet feet, dry feet policy, which allows any fleeing Cuban citizens to apply for U.S. residency and citizenship, as long as they are found on U.S. soil and not at sea. Reuters reported that civilian uncertainty about the status of U.S. immigration policy following the thaw was promoting a surge of emigrants fleeing Cuba for the U.S.The U.S. delegation made it clear that "improved human rights conditions, including freedom of expression and assembly", remain a central element in normalizing U.S.–Cuban relations. Furthermore, despite Cuban objections, the U.S. stated that it will stand by its Cuban migration policy under the Cuban Adjustment Act.
A second round of talks took place in Washington, D.C., in February 2015. Negotiators described the talks as productive and said several issues were close to resolution. However, the issue of Cuba's listing among State Sponsors of Terrorism by the U.S. government remained a significant sticking point, although Cuban diplomat Josefina Vidal said its removal was not strictly a precondition to reopening embassies.
A third round of talks were held in Havana from March 16–17, 2015. However, the talks ended abruptly after just a day, without any public comment. Obama and Castro met at the Summit of the Americas in Panama on April 10–11, where Castro delivered an address praising Obama and apologizing for blaming his government for the ongoing U.S. embargo. After meeting with Obama, Castro called for the reopening of the embassies, while both leaders said they were looking forward to more direct engagement between Cuba and the United States despite their differences.
The Vatican and Pope Francis played a symbolic but substantial role in helping facilitate the normalization of diplomatic relation between the U.S. and Cuba. The Catholic Church has remained in close cooperation with Havana even after the 1959 revolution.
"State sponsor of terrorism" designation
In addition to Cuba's concern over U.S. migration policy, the Cuban delegation assured the U.S. that normalization talks would not yield significant changes unless Cuba is removed from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Cuba was one of four countries on the list, the other three being Iran, Sudan, and Syria. The U.S. government said that it had begun an intelligence review in order to evaluate whether Cuba can be removed from the list.On April 14, 2015, Obama informed the U.S. Congress that he had decided to lift the designation because "the government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period", and it "has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future". The U.S. Congress could have blocked this by passing legislation within 45 days, but no member of Congress introduced such legislation, and Cuba was officially removed from the list on May 29, 2015. On May 20, 2015, the Cuban government opened a bank account in the United States, enabling it to do non-cash business in the United States for the first time since the embargo began.