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American Alan Gross Freed from Cuban Prison; Obama to Announce Major Shift in Cuba Policy; Sony Hackers Threaten to Target Movie- Goers

Aired December 17, 2014 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks so much. NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. We do have breaking news this morning. What may be the biggest shift in Cuban-American relations in decades appears to be unfolding this morning.

Alan Gross, an American contractor held prisoner in Cuba for the last five years, is now on his way home, on a plane heading back to the United States from Havana. Gross was arrested back in 2009 after he was caught smuggling satellite equipment into Cuba. It was part of a U.S. aid plan to increase Internet access in a severely restricted company.

In exchange for Gross' freedom, the release of three of the so-called Cuban Five. They're being held on espionage charges in the United States.

Let's head to our CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott. She's in Washington with more for us.

Tell us more -- Elise.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, Carol, the Cubans released Alan Gross. As you know, his health was really failing. It's what they're calling a humanitarian gesture. And then in addition to this, in this landmark deal, the U.S. and Cuba swapping spies. As you said, the U.S. released those three Cuban intelligent agents in jail for more than 15 years. Cuba releasing an U.S. intelligence source who has been in jail in Cuba for more than 30 years. U.S. not releasing those names for security purposes. He is not an American, I'm told.

Now officials tell me with Gross's release, President Obama set to announce later today really the most sweeping overhaul in U.S. policy toward Cuba since the embargo was imposed in 1961. Initiatives include a major relaxing of travel. Virtually anyone can go to Cuba with a license to travel.

Let's take a listen to a little bit more about that deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He's shaking hands with Raul Castro.

LABOTT (voice-over): A historic handshake between President Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela's funeral. An early sign perhaps of the sweeping change in U.S. policy towards the communist island.

Today, American government contractor Alan Gross finally coming home, just two weeks after this desperate plea from his wife on the ailing Gross' fifth year in prison.

JUDY GROSS, WIFE OF ALAN GROSS: Please, Mr. President, don't leave Alan to die in Cuba.

LABOTT: Last week President Obama hinted a deal may be in the works in an interview with Univision.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, we've been in conversations about how we can get Alan Gross home for quite some time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the Cuban government?

OBAMA: We have been working through a whole variety of channels.

LABOTT: Gross was arrested in 2009 for trying to deliver cell phones and other communications equipment to the communist island. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail for trying to subvert the Cuban government. Two years ago he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he was a hostage, not a convict.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Do you have any idea what the -- what the Cuban government would want in exchange for releasing you?

ALAN GROSS, RELEASED FROM CUBAN PRISON: Yes. I think they want something that's completely unrealistic. I think they think they want -- since I'm not really a prisoner, I'm a hostage, they took me with the idea of trading me.

LABOTT: The landmark deal involves the release of three Cubans convicted in the U.S. of spying, part of the so-called Cuban Five. For more than five decades the U.S. has observed a trade embargo on Cuba imposed during the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro's takeover of the island.

In 2011 President Obama relaxed some travel restrictions and last year he raised eyebrows in the Cuban exile community, telling a fundraiser in Miami the embargo doesn't make sense saying, quote, "We have to be creative and we have to be thoughtful and we have to continue to update our policies."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT: And Carol, in addition to relaxing those travel restrictions, President Obama set to announce resumption of banking between the U.S. and Cuban banks, increases in remittances, those Cuban American can send home to their families.

Also announcing expanded commercial export and sales of goods and services to Cuba, in addition a whole lot of diplomatic initiatives, including President Obama saying he is going to move to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba and see about taking Cuba off the state sponsor of terrorism list.

Carol, officials tell me this is not a reward to the Castro regimes. There have been some modest reforms on the island and they want to encourage that. And they realized that this is a recognition the embargo not working. If the U.S. wants to change in Cuba, it needs to engage more with the government and the Cuban people.

And I might add that even as officials say they won't let up on human rights, as part of this deal, Cuba has agreed to release 53 political prisoners from a list provided by the U.S., allow more Internet access to people in Cuba and allow the International Red Cross and United Nations to come back for the first time in years.

I understand the Vatican has been working on this deal with both parties and is the guarantor of this process -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just -- it's just astounding news.

LABOTT: Astounding.

COSTELLO: Elise Labott, stand by. I want to take our viewers to Cuba now because CNN is the only U.S. network in Cuba.

Patrick Oppmann joins us from Havana.

By all accounts Mr. Gross was in bad shape. He had threatened to kill himself if he wasn't freed soon. He already said good-bye to his wife and daughter. He lost more than 100 pounds. He can barely walk because of chronic pain. He lost five teeth and sight in his right eye.

How is he doing? I know he's on that plane back to the United States, but do you know?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The list goes on and -- he must be the happiest man alive because he really thought he was going to die in Cuban prison. You can go on adding on to that list of things he missed because of his ill-fated adventure here in Cuba. He wasn't able to say good-bye to his moth when she passed away.

And his attorney tells me that's one of the -- going to be one of the first things that he does when he returns to the United States is go to his mother's gravesite and able to do what he wasn't able to do when she was dying from cancer, which is say good-bye to his mother. He'll be able to hug his children again. He'll be able to tell his wife that he's not going to die in a Cuban prison which is he'd told her -- which is what he told her when he'd seen her in -- last in July. He was really fading away. And, you know, he was sent here by the United States as part of U.S.

programs to essentially instill democracy in Cuba. And there were some -- something of a failure because of course there is a democracy in Cuba and Alan Gross was caught almost immediately. He didn't speak Spanish. Cuban intelligence was on him for most in the beginning. And they used him as a bargaining chip to these other intelligence agents back which is really what the Cuban government wanted more than anything.

We're told -- I've been told by sources over the years that if Fidel Castro had to choose between the lifting the embargo and getting these three remaining intelligence agents back that he wanted his men back. He's a military man and apparently no man is left behind.

But, you know, it was very interesting that while there is this loosening -- the most significant loosening of restrictions we've seen in some time for Cuba, of course the Cuban embargo will remain in place. President Obama cannot lift that. But he's doing just short of that which is allowing more American to travel here, more Americans to send money here.

COSTELLO: Right.

ALTMAN: And a lot of Cubans are just waking up and just learning this news. It hasn't been reported yet in the Cuban press. But this will be very welcomed news for people who felt very isolated and very cut off from their neighbor, the United States.

COSTELLO: Right. The President Obama needs congressional approval to lift that embargo. And by the way, President Obama will be making some sort of statement noon Eastern Time. Of course we'll carry that live on CNN.

Patrick, stand by. I want to bring in Fareed Zakaria.

This is just mind blowing to me, like -- the embargo was put into place in 1960 for the totality of my life, and now suddenly the United States is reaching out to Cuba. I know there's some sort of prisoner swap and all of that. But, you know, underneath it all it's bigger than that, isn't it?

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: It's much bigger than that. I think the fundamental theory that the Obama administration is going for is that the embargo has not worked. The attempt to isolate Cuba since 1959, 1960, the theory was this would produce regime change in Cuba. Fidel Castro is the longest serving head of state in the world. I think, you know, by definition it has not worked. The queen of England is technically the longest serving. But basically it's been the longest serving head of state in the world.

And what that tells you is the embargo has not worked in its objective. The bet now that the Obama administration is making is a different strategy will work, which is contact, commerce, tourism, capitalism, will erode the control that the Cuban regime has over its country. And that is really what has happened in much of the world. If you think of all those countries, China being the best example, which was so closed and isolated, the more they had contact with the world, the more they opened themselves up.

And the more society emerged and the state became less powerful. That's the strategy here. It's a very ambitious strategy because -- as you know, this is the biggest political hot button issue in the United States. Perhaps with the exception of Israel, right?

This is a very tough one to go at and the fact that the administration is doing it shows the president is determined to remain relevant. And in foreign policy, of course, the president has more unilateral authority than in any other area.

And it's interesting that he's staking his bet on Cuba and on Iran, the two countries that are -- probably the two large countries that have not yet been integrated into the world.

COSTELLO: Yes. And I just got a message in my ear that Raul Castro, who's now the president of Cuba, is going to make some sort of statement about Cuban-U.S. relations himself a little later on this afternoon.

Is that around noon Eastern, too? 12:00 noon Eastern. That's the very same time as President Obama will make his announcement, which is -- you know.

ZAKARIA: It'll be very interesting to see what he says.

COSTELLO: Yes.

ZAKARIA: Because, you know, the regime has not reformed very much. So people have been expecting that as Castro -- Fidel Castro faded you would see more openness, more experiment with markets. There has been a little, I mean, barbers can now operate as free market entrepreneurs. But basically the regime is still very tight, very tough and frankly a very bad regime. It's still very brutal. But the theory is that this could be a way to open things up.

COSTELLO: Well, interestingly, I think a record number of Americans have traveled to Cuba even though you need special permission to go. So relations between Cuba and the United States have been getting warmer in that sense, right, because Americans are more accepting of Cuba. It's not quite so politically risky for the -- for the Obama administration to reach out to Cuba today as it might have been 10 or 12 years ago.

ZAKARIA: Absolutely right. The reason is basically it's the new generation of Miami Cubans. Most of the people going to Cuba are, you know, Miami Cubans or Cuban Americans of some form. The older generation still retain this idea that they're going to go back to a non-Castro, non-communist Cuba. They're going to reclaim their land. The younger generation are Americans. They have -- they don't know fantasies, no nostalgia about that. They just want to go and see Cuba, the country of their origin. They want to go and understand what it's like.

And that means that they don't have these phobias about the embargo happen to be in place. If nobody can have any contact with the Castro regime, it gives the Obama administration --

COSTELLO: Well, let's face it, Fidel Castro is an old, sick man. He's out of sight. Nobody really thinks about him anymore.

ZAKARIA: And the issues were so much caught up with the Cold War. You know, the idea of giving in to a communist state, the idea of giving in to a Soviet ally, all that is gone. And so finally in a sense we're catching up with what the reality is, which is Cuba is one more corrupt kleptocracy and it's probably true that contact commerce, tourism and travel will erode the power of this corrupt kleptocracy much more than isolating it. Frankly, the isolation helps the -- you know, the regime stay in power.

COSTELLO: OK. Fareed, stay right there. I'm going to take our viewers our to the White House now to check in with Michelle Kosinski.

So the president is expected to release some sort of statement at noon Eastern. What will he say?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Carol. And the White House so far has basically confirmed that this is happening, that Gross is now on a government plane headed back to the U.S. and the president was asked about this subject just days ago. In fact there was an interview done with Spanish language television on December 9th.

I just want to read you a part of it. Because he was asked about Alan Gross' situation, what is the U.S. government doing to secure his release. And that's something that the White House has asked about quite often, frankly. And the president said that there were efforts being made, resources being used to try to get him back home. And the president said we've been working through a whole variety of channels. We continue to be concerned about him. We think that he shouldn't have been held in the first place.

And the president went on to say with respect to Cuba, generally, "I've made very clear that the policies that we have in making remittances easier for Cuban families and making it easier for families to travel have been helpful to people inside of Cuba."

But he said the Cuban government still needs to make significant changes. And he said beyond that I don't have any announcement. So that was only days ago. Now we have this big announcement today.

So, we expect the president to give a little more detail on how this came about. We know that it will be -- or it was a swap in the negotiations. He'll justify it. He'll make a case for why this happened now and how it happened.

And, surely, if he takes questions he'll be asked about U.S. Cuba relations and what this means going forward, because as you were just talking about -- I mean, this has been a topic of sore debate, especially in Miami among that long Cuban community for many, many years.

And I lived there for ten years. And you still get that fiery vehement about not giving in to the Castro regime. Even today, even though it might not be as prevalent among the young generation, the feeling is still there. I mean, in some sense, it's been handed down for generations, but they still have family there. Some people still have relatives who are political prisoners or mistreated by the government.

So, that sense, it's still a very delicate subject among many families down there. So we'll be curious to see what their reactions are once we know the full details of how this cam to be.

COSTELLO: All right. Michelle, stand by.

I want to go to Fareed -- and ask you a little bit about, I guess, I don't know, is it a prisoner swap because you know, some members of the Cuban five are going to be released back to Cuba and they'll probably return home as heroes, right, in exchange for Alan Gross. Is that the right way to put it, to characterize it?

ZAKARIA: I think there's no question that it is in some sense a prisoner swap. It was also for the Obama administration, the obstacle that did not allow them to do the new policy that they had been hoping to do, because Alan Gross had become a symbol of the Cuban regime's thuggish-ness. As you know, it had become a great cause.

So, until that was solved, this was the obstacle they had to get past. So, they had been trying very hard. And it's quite remarkable --

COSTELLO: And the Cuban five, they were spying for Cuba on the United States, right? That's what we're talking about.

ZAKARIA: Cuban five were Cuban intelligence operatives who were doing stuff in Miami that -- exactly.

COSTELLO: And they served time in U.S. prisons, right?

ZAKARIA: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Some more than 15 years and now three of them will go back.

ZAKARIA: Exactly. And the Cubans have a very, very -- they're very loyal to these kinds of intelligence operatives. The regime is essentially a military dictatorship and they view these things in those terms, no man left behind. They take every effort they can to get these people.

So, yes, you're quite right. At some level, this is a prisoner swap.

COSTELLO: OK. Ana Navarro is on the phone, one of our political analysts.

Hi, Ana. Are you there?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (via telephone): Hi.

COSTELLO: So, we were talking about the political implications of President Obama agreeing to this for the release of Alan Gross. There are Republicans who will object to this, right?

NAVARRO: And also some Democrats, Carol. I just got off the phone with Bob Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey, who is also the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the U.S. Senate. None of the Cuban Americans on the U.S. Congress -- none of the congressmen, none of the Democrat or Republicans in the Senate or Congress had any idea or any forewarning from the White House that they were in the midst of this.

And, you know, look, there's going to be Republicans in charge that's going to be funding issues. I think you're going to hear a very, a very angry Bob Menendez. I think people are going to be celebrating and happy about the release of Alan Gross.

But this sets a very dangerous precedent, understand what this means. If you take an American hostage somewhere around the world, if you imprison an American, we'll engage in a prisoner swap that is going to be of great concern not only to the Cuban Americans congresspeople but also for others who don't like that.

COSTELLO: And it's interesting you say that because, you know, I was asking Fareed about how Cuba characterizes Alan Gross. They obviously consider him a spy, right?

ZAKARIA: They call him a spy.

NAVARRO: Well, that's ridiculous. Let's just remember what the guy was going in Cuba. Alan Gross is a Jewish man who was in Cuba helping the small Jewish community that still remains in Cuba get Internet access.

This was not a guy doing covert activity. This was not a guy trying to topple the government. This was the guy trying to get his community in Cuba Internet access.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: There's a reason that the Cuban government doesn't want its citizens to have internet access, right?

NAVARRO: -- about the Cuban regime and their respect for freedom of the press, for freedom of assembly and for human rights.

COSTELLO: Fareed?

ZAKARIA: I mean, Ana is right. This is a thuggish regime, as I said. It's a bad reform. It does not reform much. But in terms of the prisoner exchange, which is how you characterized it, which I think is exactly right, look, it's a problem that every country faces. And all I can say is that the toughest regime in the world on these issues is the Israeli government.

And the Israeli government routinely does prisoner exchanges, because after a while, the -- not doing it becomes an obstacle in any forward moment in policy on either side, and it becomes -- the feeling is, let's move on. So, you could say, yes, the Obama administration did something wrong. But I point out Netanyahu have been prisoner exchanges that are far more lopsided than Obama just did.

COSTELLO: And back to Menendez for just a second, Ana, the Cuban government, it's on the edges of my memory, but the Cuban government tried to set him up to take a fall, didn't it?

NAVARRO: I'm sorry, Carol, can you say that again?

COSTELLO: Didn't the Cuban government try to set him up to take a fall?

NAVARRO: The Cuban government tried to set him up, I think, to make him, you know, in this bigger political game.

COSTELLO: Yes. I'm sorry. I put you on the spot with that question. I'm going to research that and tell our viewers exactly what I mean when I have it straight in my mind. I apologize for that.

So, going back to lifting some of these sanctions that the president might need congressional approval for, do you think that most members of Congress will go for it?

NAVARRO: I think he's going to encounter a huge problem because I think that you're going to see a united front from the Cuban Americans in the Senate, like Marco Rubio and like Bob Menendez, who are both on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Currently, Senator Menendez is the chair. I don't think this it's a coincidence this happened the day after the Senate went into adjournment. This congressional session went into adjournment.

But the next chair of the western hemisphere committee where any of the changes would have to start in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is going to be Senator Marco Rubio. I can tell you that he has been steadfast on his opposition to lifting any sanctions and there is enormous unity amongst the Cuban Americans in Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, whether from South Florida, New Jersey or even Texas in the case of Ted Cruz, in standing firm against any unilateral lifting of sanctions on Cuba while they still violate human rights the way they do.

COSTELLO: And something that may sway Congress, some lawmakers at least, is that other countries have reached out to Cuba and are actively trading with them, they've improved relations. And maybe the United States is behind the eight ball, because let's face it, Cuba is very close to the United States, geographically.

ZAKARIA: Absolutely. Look, Cuba is not as isolated as a country like Iran. Only the U.S. has this involvement and a few other countries. Many European countries have active trade with Cuba. So, in a sense we're losing an opportunity to have influence and to have contact.

And, of course, it is American contact commerce that is more likely than anything to have an impact because we always do bring with it concerns about human rights. We press these countries. We don't have any relations with them right now so it's very difficult.

So, as I say, there is an alternate strategy and an alternate theory here, which is more contact and more commerce will have the effect of softening the regime, empowering, if you will, Cuban civil society for the first time, rather than the Cuban state.

There's a limit of how much you can do because of the sanctions. There is no chance -- I doubt that President Obama will even ask Congress to lift the embargo. I think he knows that Ana is exactly right. That's not going to happen.

But the president has considerable powers of his own that he can use and the point you're making, their ear symbolic. Now other countries might step up and get more engaged with Cuba because they'll see there's no danger or pushback or backlash. They're not going to get in trouble with American banks if they trade with Cuba. And that might integrate Cuba more and more in the world.

COSTELLO: All right. I want to go to Little Havana in Miami and check in with Alina Machado. Many Cuban-Americans live in that section of the United States.

So, how are they reacting this morning, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORREPONDENT (via telephone): You know, Carol, I'm at the Versailles Cafe which is a well known spot here in Miami in terms of the Cuban community, especially the Cuban exile community gathering here, every time there's something that happens in terms of the U.S. and Cuba relations. We've been talking to people here for about the last half-hour, ever since the news broke. And most people have not heard yet about the announcement.

I spoke to two gentlemen who arrived in Miami in 1961 from Cuba. They've been here since then. They have not returned to the island. And initially when I told them Alan Gross had been released, they were happy and pleased.

But then when I mentioned that it was in exchange for three of the Cuban five, their tone changed a bit. They were concerned that there was a spy swap in exchange for Alan Gross's release.

You know, we also talked about possibly easing relations, diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. And that was something that really struck a cord. You've got to remember. There's a long standing history here among the Cuban community when it comes to the Cuban government.

These gentlemen I talked to told me that they left the -- they left Cuba in 1961 and they haven't returned because of the situation there, because of the Castro government. And many of the people who are here in Miami left the island after very serious reasons. We're talking about families that were torn apart.

And that is going to probably be at the heart of the reaction here to the announcement. Remember, there's a lot of anger in this community and there's also going to be a lot of disappointment on many of the Cuban exiles here, Carol, who probably aren't going to be happy to hear about the easing of relations here. COSTELLO: All right. Alina Machado, thanks very much. I have to get

to a break. Back with much more on this breaking news about Cuba and the release of Alan Gross.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A world full of fear. That's the latest threat from the hackers who attacked Sony over the controversial film "The Interview." They're vowing to turn their anger toward moviegoers in the form of a 9/11 attack.

One New York City theater taking that threat very seriously. The Landmark's Sunshine canceling the film's premiere, which is scheduled for tomorrow night.

And while Sony does not officially plan to pull the movie, a source close to the situation says the company will not object if theaters decide not to show it.

And the box office may not be the only place that Sony takes a hit. Two former employees have now filed a class-action lawsuit against the company after the hackers got access to information like Social Security Numbers and medical conditions.

The suit reads in part, quote, "an epic nightmare, much better suited to a cinematic thriller than to real life, is unfolding in slow motion for Sony's current and former employees. Their most sensitive data has been leaked to the public and may even be in the hands of criminals."