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Obama May Visit Cuba, Castro May Visit U.S.; Mixed Reaction in Cuba, in Little Havana, Miami, to Obama's New Policy; John Kerry to Reestablish Diplomatic Ties with Cuba; Obama Sheds Lame-Duck Label, Moves Forward on Agenda; As Putin Discusses Economy, E.U., U.S. Seek New Sanctions on Russia.

Aired December 18, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: But the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, also went one step forward just moments ago in suggesting the U.S. may actually welcome the Cuban leader to Washington. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I guess the point is that the president has had the leaders of both Burma and China to the United States and, for that reason, I wouldn't rule out a visit from President Castro.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last question. Going to sneak it in. Is the president feeling more liberated after the midterm elections? There's been discussion about that, Cuba, immigration, climate. What's next?

EARNEST: Well, I notice there was a clever headline in a local media outlet describing the president in that fashion, but using the Spanish version of that word. What I will say is, as a general matter, here we are, in what is likely to be my last press briefing of the year, that there has been a tremendous amount that the president has accomplished.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. A little laughter at the end there.

You heard the news, not ruling out the possibility that the Cuban president, Raul Castro, could be invited to come to Washington, come to the White House. Yesterday, we heard from President Obama, he's not ruling out the possibility of a visit by President Obama to Havana in the next two years, the final two years of his administration.

Once again, the other headline, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, saying he supports the president's decision to move towards normalization of relations with Cuba, calling it a good idea and pointing out, he says, that embargo for the past 50 years clearly hasn't worked.

Let's go to Havana right now. CNN's Patrick Oppmann is joining us from Havana. Alina Machado is joining us from Little Havana in Miami. Patrick, first to you.

A lot of the Cubans, you've been telling us on the streets there in Havana, they're pretty happy about what's going on. Others are suggesting maybe not so happy. What's the reaction that you're hearing on the streets?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It varies incredibly. Many Cubans, whether or not they support the revolution or not, or as many are ambivalent, they see this as a potential, a moment in their lives that could potentially improve the terrible economy in Cuba, could improve the terrible state of affairs that many people are forced to live in here, where the average Cuban who works for the government only makes about $20 a month, not nearly enough to really survive on. So people barely just get by here, Wolf, and see this as a symbol that things could get better.

Of course, there are others, particularly people who have been opponents to the government, who feel that perhaps Washington is turning its back on them and their struggle to create a society here, a democracy here, and really are afraid that if money does pour in from the United States, it will be money used to really repress them. Some criticism coming in from well-known dissidents here.

But you come back to the point about Raul Castro coming to the United States, that's really something completely unprecedented. Remember Fidel Castro would take advantage of the opportunities to visit the U.N. And he did that fairly often over the years. Raul Castro, at least while he's been president, never has. He's not someone in terms of Cuban officials who knows the United States well. And to see him in the United States, much less the White House, would truly be historic -- Wolf?

BLITZER: It's an amazing statement from the White House press secretary. Who would have thought they're not necessarily ruling out the possibility of inviting Raul Castro, the president of Cuba, to come to the White House for a meeting of the president of the United States.

Let's get some more reaction. Alina Machado is joining us from Little Havana in Miami.

I take it, Alina, there's been some mixed reaction over there as well? A lot of Cuban-Americans live in that part of Miami?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Wolf, we've seen very strong reactions on both sides of the issue. On one hand, we have the younger generation of Cubans who say change is a good thing. On the other hand, we have people who came in the '50s and '60s, who went through tremendous amount of hardship when they arrived, and they strongly oppose any change without a change in the government of Cuba, specifically, the Castro government.

I spoke with one woman in particular who says her parents sent her to the U.S. in the '60s and on one of those Peter Pan flights. I want you to listen to what she had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOURDES CAMBO, CUBAN EXILE: It hurts me. My family, my country, went through a lot of suffering. My mother had the courage to take me out of that country so I would not become a Communist and live that horrible life that they have lived all these 54 years. It's an inferno.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now I want to set the scene for you today here. I want you to walk with me for a moment. Not many people out here today in terms of people showing their opinion, especially those who oppose what the president announced yesterday. We did see, again, people yesterday here, very vocal, very small group, but very vocal, showing their opposition to the change. And perhaps what we're seeing today, the fact that this group seems to be considerably smaller and things have called down quickly here, this could suggest a change in the way that Cubans are thinking here in Miami -- Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Alina, in Little Havana, reporting for us. Patrick Oppmann, reporting from Havana, not Little Havana, but Havana, Cuba. Guys, thanks very much.

Up next, the super secret meetings that led to an historic agreement between the United States and Cuba. Who would have believed it? How did it come together in the moments that made a critical difference in getting a jailed American released?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Secretary of State John Kerry is getting ready for a mission, none of his press predecessors have done, re- establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba after more than five decades of mistrust and sanctions, all part of a major shift in U.S. policy. It was announced by President Obama only 24 hours ago. And it all began with the prisoner swap deal that included the release of the American contractor, Alan Gross.

Let's discuss what's going on. Joining us once again from Madrid, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson. Joining us from Arlington, Virginia, outside of Washington, Michael Crowley, senior foreign affairs correspondent for "Politico." And David Rothkopf, still with us, the editor of "Foreign Policy" magazine.

Michael, your piece in "Politico" detailed some of the secret meetings, the negotiations that led to not only Alan Gross' release but led to this new effort to try to actually normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba. We just heard Josh Earnest at the White House saying they're not ruling out the possibility of inviting Raul Castro from coming to the White House. The president not ruling out the possibility of going to Havana during his final two years. This is dramatic stuff when you think about it?

MICHAEL CROWLEY, SENIOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Yeah. That was amazing to hear Josh Earnest say that. Trying to visualize the president landing in Havana is mind blowing. I don't think it's around the corner, but how amazing it would be to see that.

But, yeah, Wolf, the key here really is the secrecy and, you know. It reminds me very much of how they have approached the Iran talk. Administration officials like to quote a saying they attribute to Madeleine Albright, which is, "Diplomacy is like mushrooms. It grows best in the dark." They feel if you get these things started out of the eye of the media and also the Congress, so you don't have people taking pot shots from the beginning and throwing up obstacles and second guessing the media along the way, and you can get a lot done in private. That's the way to do it. And that's how you have to do it, particularly in a media and political environment where the response comes in so fast and furious. So they did take this secret approach and it worked for them just as it got the Iran talks off the ground.

BLITZER: Certainly over 18 months they had the secret negotiations going on with Cuba through the Canadian government. And the White House officials were working to try to get that done.

At one point, Governor Richardson, you went to Havana. You tried to get Alan Gross released. You failed in that particular mission. How surprised were you by what you heard yesterday, not only Alan Gross's release, but the other prisoners, the spy swap, if you will, that occurred, and the move towards normalization of relations?

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Well, obviously, President Obama is looking at his legacy, and you need a sweeping initiative like this to establish it. I knew that there were discussions relating to the Alan Gross issue for the three Cuban spies, but I was surprised that it went beyond that.

I think what is most significant is the establishment of diplomatic relations, the possible visits, but it's all executive actions, Wolf, that can be done, more visits, more travel, more people to people diplomacy, remittances. But the one negative is going to be the U.S. Congress. There won't be a change in the embargo. The Helms Burton law of many years ago that passed after the downing of those planes, basically says that the president doesn't have executive authority to deal with the economic embargo issues, so that's going to be in control of the Republicans, very powerful Cuban-American Senators. That's not much going to happen. But this is legacy time. This is a major initiative. I think the first breath is going to be a summit in Panama in April where the president and President Castro are probably going to meet. And I bet you that's when they issue the joint invitations. But this is a major initiative that removes as an irritant one of the big problems the United States has had in Latin America where every country there has ganged up on us and said, look, do something, this relationship needs to be mended, the trade embargo is not working. I think the president has national support for this. I mean look at Rand Paul, although, he's building a national coalition, there is public support for this change in our policy.

BLITZER: Yeah. The other Republican Senators support what the president is doing. Jeff Flake, the Republican Senator from Arizona, told me he was on the mission to bring Alan Gross on the plane. He supports it. He believes there will be other Republicans that support what the president has done. There will be a few Democrats who will oppose.

But, David Rothkopf, you've written about Cuba extensively, including a book on Cuba. Give us a perspective. A lot of people have said what President Obama is doing now, as far as Havana and Cuba is concerned, is almost what Richard Nixon did in opening the door to China, that whole China initiative, which stunned the world at that time.

DAVID ROTHKOPF, EDITOR, FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: Well, they're both dramatic. The comparison is kind of ridiculous. China is now the other major power in the world. Cuba is an island in the Caribbean.

It's loaded with symbolic value. I think that's what we're looking at. The notion of a Castro and a U.S. president together, whether in Havana or Washington, that's really striking a difference from the past. You know, the Cuba embargo, 53 years old, is a failure. It has not worked at all for decades. It is about time this was done. It's kind of the Edsel of U.S. foreign policy. It dates back to when the Edsel was a car and it is just as successful as the Edsel.

But I think we have to be careful. The president can go, move into the meetings, and then, you know, the Castro government hasn't fully changed its character. Nine months from now, it throws somebody into jail, it does something objectionable, and the president will be open to harsh criticism that he moved too fast. I personally don't think he did. I think this is long over due. But there's a risk.

BLITZER: David Rothkopf, thanks very much.

Bill Richardson, good to have you here on CNN.

Michael Crowley, appreciate it very much.

We're going to stay on top of this story.

Just ahead, President Obama's push to renew ties with Cuba, just the latest in a series of very bold moves by the president. We're taking a closer look at the president's action agenda and how he's shedding what some describe as the lame-duck label.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right. So much for the so-called lame-duck label. President Obama seems intent on making the most of his final two years in the White House. His go-it-alone approach has angered a lot of critics but that hasn't stopped him from taking direct executive action. The move to normalize relations with Cuba, immigration reform, nuclear talks with Iran, a climate change agreement with China, all part of the president's effort to advance his agenda.

Let's bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Gloria, the Democrats may have suffered badly in the midterm elections a month or so ago.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You would never know it. BLITZER: The president is moving forward as if they had a vote of

confidence from the American people?

BORGER: In talking to some people in the administration they're feeling as if the president felt very constrained by his tactical responsibilities to Democrats in the midterm elections which really means, don't move on a lot of stuff you want to move on until the elections are over because you don't want to give them any headaches. As it turns out they had headaches anyway, Wolf, and I think the president now is looking towards his legacy, saying these are the things I want to get done, I promised you that I would engage with our so-called enemies when I ran for the presidency in 2007 and 2008, so their feeling is he's checking some boxes that he wanted to check all along, but felt constrained and frustrated that he couldn't do it. He understands Republicans are not going to give him much help in the Congress. He's doing what he can do, through executive action, and hoping that he can at least get the ball rolling.

BLITZER: I've been told by some folks, supposedly on the inside, he goes back and takes a look at what he promised the American people --

BORGER: Yeah.

BLITZER: -- when he was running for the White House, when he came to office, he goes -- Obamacare, health care, that was a promise. He got that. Ending the war in Iraq, ending the war in Afghanistan, not necessarily so sure that those wars are over with. But he's pulled out a lot of those tens of thousands of U.S. forces. And now he's taking these other actions. There's a risk, though --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- in the final two years to taking these kinds of actions.

BORGER: Yeah, There is a risk because you're alienating Republicans even more than you would have alienated them previously. So if there are things you want to get done in the Congress, and I believe there are things he believes he can get done, like maybe on trade or infrastructure, that perhaps Republicans would react differently to him.

But I think what's interesting about this is that he's actually also, in his own way, setting the table for the 2016 election, causing Republicans, in many ways, to box themselves in on certain issues, such as Cuba, which a lot of people believe is a demographic issue more than anything else, that he won 49 percent, Obama did, of the Cuban-American vote in the state of Florida, and that he's taking this risk. But his thinking is that younger, Cuban Americans side with him because this story has been playing out for 52 years and it hasn't done so well. That's the risk he's taking.

I was thinking about it this morning, Wolf. I think he's kind of like Clark Kent, stepping into the phone booth and coming out with the cape and saying, OK, now I'm going to do what I always wanted to do, and he's doing it.

BLITZER: And so we'll see what happens in the next two years.

BORGER: Yeah. We will.

BLITZER: Let's not forget, to his credit, when he took office, there was a huge recession under way in the United States. 800,000 jobs a month the U.S. was losing. And he's certainly helped turn that around, although the economy is certainly not where it should be, but it's a lot different than it was six years ago.

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: Gloria, thanks very much for that.

Fighting back, Vladimir Putin vows to weather Russia's economic storm. And he's accusing the West of undermining the country's national interests. That, and a lot more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, blamed external factors for his country's internal problems today during a marathon end-of-the-year news conference. He sought to reassure the world that Russia would bounce back and he wanted to reassure his own people. Putin promised to diversify Russia's economy, which would mean stepping away from a reliance on oil and gas. He also praised the central bank of Russia's intervention to defend the ruble and said growth would return but it could take, he said, six months to two years. Putin insisted Russia didn't cause its own problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Quite clearly the situation, which has been provoked by external factors above all, with today's and yesterday's reduction in foreign currency, will be maintained, and possibly the further reduction in oil prices will reduce further influence in national currency. We'll get through this period. It's not easy, of course, but we will strengthen our position within the world economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: While the Russian president was speaking, the European Union announced tougher sanctions on Crimea, which was annexed by Russia earlier this year in March. And by the end of the week, President Obama is expected to sign a bill that would further increase the economic pressure with a new raft of sanctions targeting the Russian defense, energy and banking industries.

Let's get some perspective on what's going on with Rana Foroohar, CNN's global economic analyst, assistant managing editor of "Time" magazine in New York is joining us from New York.

Rana, the Americans are loving the reduced gas prices here in the United States. People all over the world are loving the reduced gas prices. But as these oil prices sink, it's having a dramatic impact on Russia, right?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST & ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR, TIME MAGAZINE: Absolutely. You have to think about Russia like you think about a Middle Eastern oil state. It's a petrol dictatorship really. This is an economy that perfectly tracks the rise and fall of oil. If you look at the fall since the summer, the ruble follows the falling oil prices. And with 75 percent of Russia's exports coming from oil, that won't change any time soon. As long as oil stays low, Russia will be in trouble. And Putin's efforts to prop up the currency are really quite disastrous. They never work. And they tend to have an extremely negative effect on local populations, which are getting very worried about the state of the economy.

BLITZER: Here's what a lot of people don't understand. At this news conference, it was obvious. He answered questions. Get this -- spoke for three hours and 10 minutes --

(LAUGHTER)

-- without a break. Three hours and 10 minutes. He answered 53 questions from the news media there. Most of the questions referred to the dire financial situation in Russia right now. His job approval numbers are in the 80s right now, even though the economy is sick over there. People are in trouble, but he remains popular. How do you explain that?

FOROOHAR: It's a fascinating juxtaposition. One of the things that's happened not only in Russia but in many emerging markets is if you have a younger population that's very nationalistic but wants to see their country rise in the estimation of the world, and Putin has played on that. He has stoked nationalism. He makes younger people feel that Russia deserves a big voice in global affairs. But he's not diversified, which is a tragedy. The Russian population is very talented. There's a deep skill set in technology and science. In fact, a lot of those people have left and gone to places like Israel, which is why the technology sector there is thriving. Putin has done nothing to help his country's economy. And despite the three hours of talk, I don't believe he will now.

BLITZER: I know the White House just announced that President Obama will have an end-of-year news conference tomorrow. I suspect it's not going to go three hours and 10 minutes.

(LAUGHTER)

And he will not answer 53 questions as Vladimir Putin did today.

Rana, thanks very much for joining us.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

BLITZER: Rana Foroohar, our global economic analyst.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin will start after a very quick break.

(CROSSTALK)

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