Cubans celebrated the release of three high-profile prisoners who were serving sentences for espionage
World leaders have welcomed a historic move by the US to end more than 50 years of hostility towards Cuba and restore diplomatic relations.
Leaders in Latin America and Europe praised the "courage" of US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart.
Pope Francis, who played a central role in bringing the rivals together, also congratulated both men.
They have agreed a number of measures to improve ties, including the release of prisoners on both sides.
Announcing the move, President Obama said the "rigid and outdated policy" of isolating Cuba had clearly failed and that it was time for a new approach.
'Beginning of the end'
Leading the praise, Pope Francis sent "warm congratulations" to Mr Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro for overcoming "the difficulties which have marked their recent history".
The announcement followed more than a year of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, directly involving the pontiff.
The European Union, which is in the process of normalising ties with Cuba, described the move as a "historical turning point", while leaders meeting at a Latin America summit in Argentina broke into applause at the news.
Alan Gross celebrates onboard a government plane headed back to the US with his wife, Judy Gross in this 17 December 2014 White House handout photo US national Alan Gross celebrates after his release from five years of imprisonment in Cuba
Anti-Castro activists protest in Little Havana in Miami, Florida 17 December 2014. The rapprochement was not received well by some exiled Cubans living in the US state of Florida
Cuban President Raul Castro (L) embraces Gerardo Hernandez after he and two other Cuban intelligence agents arrived in Havana in this 17 December 2014 Cuban TV aired footage of President Castro (L) greeting one of the intelligence agents released from the US
Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz hailed it as "the beginning of the end of the Cold War in the Americas".
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, whose predecessor Hugo Chavez was a close ally of Fidel Castro, said it was a "moral victory" and "victory for Fidel".
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said increased US engagement in Cuba in the future should "encourage real and lasting reforms for the Cuban people".
"And the other nations of the Americas should join us in this effort," she added.
Grey line
Analysis: Julia Sweig, director for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
US President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 and garnering of a sizable number of Cuban voters in Florida helped push the lifting of historic restrictions against Cuba.
It also increased the momentum to free US aid worker Alan Gross, following five years in a Cuban prison.
The added negotiations for the release of three Cubans in exchange for one US intelligence operative were the "most delicate", involving the highest levels of both governments, including Mr Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro.
But, as both countries now move towards regulatory efforts to liberalise trade and travel among them, negotiations will shift to lower level agencies.
Mr Obama's aim in using his executive authority to open up decades-long boundaries with Cuba is in "laying scaffolding" for longer-term political gains.
As more Americans travel to and trade with Cuba, pressure on Congress will mount to fully nullify the legally codified embargo. But I think we're a while away from that.
Grey line
The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, whose country never broke off ties with Cuba, also welcomed what he called the "overdue development".
But the move was not applauded elsewhere, with some exiled Cubans in Florida reacting with anger and dismay and some Republicans in the US criticising the decision.
A classic American car passes by a stall selling onions in Havana, Cuba, on 17 December 2014. The Cuban government blames the US embargo for economic hardship on the island
"It is a betrayal. The talks are only going to benefit Cuba," Carlos Munoz Fontanil said at a protest in Miami's Calle Ocho.
As part of the deal, US contractor Alan Gross, 65, was released from Cuban prison in return for three Cubans held in the US. President Obama said the US was looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Mr Castro has urged the US to ends its trade embargo, which has been in place since the Cuba revolution led to Communism in the early 1960s.
Continue reading the main story
US and Cuba
54 years
since trade embargo imposed
$1.1 trillion
cost to Cuban economy
Cost to US economy $1.2bn a year
US presidents since 1960: 11
Cuban presidents since 1960: 3
Source: US Chamber of Commerce, Cuba Foreign Ministry
GETTY
But power to lift the embargo, which Mr Castro says has caused "enormous human and economic damage", lies with the US Congress, and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.
Officials said that Mr Obama and Mr Castro spoke by telephone on Tuesday for nearly an hour - the first presidential-level talks between the two nations since Cuba's 1959 revolution.
In exchange for Mr Gross, who was in poor health, and an unnamed American intelligence officer, Washington released three members of the so-called "Cuban Five" who were serving lengthy sentences for espionage.
Mr Gross's five-year imprisonment had undermined previous attempts to thaw diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Grey line
Key dates
1959: Fidel Castro and his guerrilla army defeat the US-backed Cuban regime of Fulgencio Batista
1960-1961: Cuba nationalises US businesses without compensation; US breaks off diplomatic relations and imposes a trade embargo in response
1961: Failed Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-backed Cuban exiles
1962: Soviet Union deploys ballistic missiles to Cuba, prompting Cuban Missile Crisis
2001: Five Cubans, dubbed the Cuban Five, are jailed in Miami for spying
2008: Raul Castro becomes Cuban president
2009: US citizen Alan Gross detained in Cuba accused of spying
Dec 2013: US President Barack Obama and Raul Castro shake hands at Nelson Mandela's funeral - the first such public gesture since 1959
17 December 2014: Alan Gross is released by Cuba
Source:bbc
Cubans celebrated the release of three high-profile prisoners who were serving sentences for espionage
World leaders have welcomed a historic move by the US to end more than 50 years of hostility towards Cuba and restore diplomatic relations.
Leaders in Latin America and Europe praised the "courage" of US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart.
Pope Francis, who played a central role in bringing the rivals together, also congratulated both men.
They have agreed a number of measures to improve ties, including the release of prisoners on both sides.
Announcing the move, President Obama said the "rigid and outdated policy" of isolating Cuba had clearly failed and that it was time for a new approach.
'Beginning of the end'
Leading the praise, Pope Francis sent "warm congratulations" to Mr Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro for overcoming "the difficulties which have marked their recent history".
The announcement followed more than a year of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, directly involving the pontiff.
The European Union, which is in the process of normalising ties with Cuba, described the move as a "historical turning point", while leaders meeting at a Latin America summit in Argentina broke into applause at the news.
Alan Gross celebrates onboard a government plane headed back to the US with his wife, Judy Gross in this 17 December 2014 White House handout photo US national Alan Gross celebrates after his release from five years of imprisonment in Cuba
Anti-Castro activists protest in Little Havana in Miami, Florida 17 December 2014. The rapprochement was not received well by some exiled Cubans living in the US state of Florida
Cuban President Raul Castro (L) embraces Gerardo Hernandez after he and two other Cuban intelligence agents arrived in Havana in this 17 December 2014 Cuban TV aired footage of President Castro (L) greeting one of the intelligence agents released from the US
Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz hailed it as "the beginning of the end of the Cold War in the Americas".
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, whose predecessor Hugo Chavez was a close ally of Fidel Castro, said it was a "moral victory" and "victory for Fidel".
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said increased US engagement in Cuba in the future should "encourage real and lasting reforms for the Cuban people".
"And the other nations of the Americas should join us in this effort," she added.
Grey line
Analysis: Julia Sweig, director for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations
US President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 and garnering of a sizable number of Cuban voters in Florida helped push the lifting of historic restrictions against Cuba.
It also increased the momentum to free US aid worker Alan Gross, following five years in a Cuban prison.
The added negotiations for the release of three Cubans in exchange for one US intelligence operative were the "most delicate", involving the highest levels of both governments, including Mr Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro.
But, as both countries now move towards regulatory efforts to liberalise trade and travel among them, negotiations will shift to lower level agencies.
Mr Obama's aim in using his executive authority to open up decades-long boundaries with Cuba is in "laying scaffolding" for longer-term political gains.
As more Americans travel to and trade with Cuba, pressure on Congress will mount to fully nullify the legally codified embargo. But I think we're a while away from that.
Grey line
The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, whose country never broke off ties with Cuba, also welcomed what he called the "overdue development".
But the move was not applauded elsewhere, with some exiled Cubans in Florida reacting with anger and dismay and some Republicans in the US criticising the decision.
A classic American car passes by a stall selling onions in Havana, Cuba, on 17 December 2014. The Cuban government blames the US embargo for economic hardship on the island
"It is a betrayal. The talks are only going to benefit Cuba," Carlos Munoz Fontanil said at a protest in Miami's Calle Ocho.
As part of the deal, US contractor Alan Gross, 65, was released from Cuban prison in return for three Cubans held in the US. President Obama said the US was looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Mr Castro has urged the US to ends its trade embargo, which has been in place since the Cuba revolution led to Communism in the early 1960s.
Continue reading the main story
US and Cuba
54 years
since trade embargo imposed
$1.1 trillion
cost to Cuban economy
Cost to US economy $1.2bn a year
US presidents since 1960: 11
Cuban presidents since 1960: 3
Source: US Chamber of Commerce, Cuba Foreign Ministry
GETTY
But power to lift the embargo, which Mr Castro says has caused "enormous human and economic damage", lies with the US Congress, and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.
Officials said that Mr Obama and Mr Castro spoke by telephone on Tuesday for nearly an hour - the first presidential-level talks between the two nations since Cuba's 1959 revolution.
In exchange for Mr Gross, who was in poor health, and an unnamed American intelligence officer, Washington released three members of the so-called "Cuban Five" who were serving lengthy sentences for espionage.
Mr Gross's five-year imprisonment had undermined previous attempts to thaw diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Grey line
Key dates
1959: Fidel Castro and his guerrilla army defeat the US-backed Cuban regime of Fulgencio Batista
1960-1961: Cuba nationalises US businesses without compensation; US breaks off diplomatic relations and imposes a trade embargo in response
1961: Failed Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-backed Cuban exiles
1962: Soviet Union deploys ballistic missiles to Cuba, prompting Cuban Missile Crisis
2001: Five Cubans, dubbed the Cuban Five, are jailed in Miami for spying
2008: Raul Castro becomes Cuban president
2009: US citizen Alan Gross detained in Cuba accused of spying
Dec 2013: US President Barack Obama and Raul Castro shake hands at Nelson Mandela's funeral - the first such public gesture since 1959
17 December 2014: Alan Gross is released by Cuba
Source:bbc
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