Celebration in Cuba over restoration of US/Cuba RElations

HAVANA (AP) — Bells tolled in celebration and teachers halted lessons midday as President Raul Castro told his country Wednesday that Cuba was restoring relations with the United States after more than a half-century of hostility.

Fidel and Jimmy Carter in 2000 

Guillermo Delgado, a 72-year-old retiree, welcomed the announcement as "a victory for Cuba because it was achieved without conceding basic principles."

Yoani Sanchez, a renowned Cuban blogger critical of the government, however, said the development came with a price. Castro, she wrote, had made a "bargaining chip" of Alan Gross, the U.S. aid worker who was released from prison Wednesday while the U.S. freed three Cubans held as spies.

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Obama and Castro

The U.S. initially recognized the new government but broke relations in 1961 after Cuba veered sharply to the left and nationalized U.S.

As Cuba turned toward the Soviet Union, the U.S. imposed a trade embargo that has remained in place since 1962. Particularly since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Cubans have confronted severe shortages of oil, food and consumer goods, forcing them to ration everything from beans to powdered milk.

The Cuban government blames most of its economic travails on the embargo, while Washington has traditionally blamed Cuba's Communist economic policies.

While the measures announced Wednesday don't include a lifting of the trade embargo, Cubans hope they will see more tourists and more hard cash.

-Cuba negotiations, which Castro said had been facilitated by the Vatican and the Canadian government.

Havana resident Gabriel Serrano said, "Raul, Fidel, Obama and the pope are covered with glory. ... I'm 71 years old and this is news that I've waited so long for."

Mandela must be smiling as Obama and Raul Castro shake hands

At the University of Havana, a spontaneous celebration erupted with students leaving their classrooms waving Cuban flags and singing.

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