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http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/17/politics/cuban-embargo-questions-answers/
So what's changing?
Both countries will work toward reestablishing embassies.
The U.S. will ease travel restrictions, making it easier for
Americans to travel to Cuba and do business there.
U.S. and Cuban banks will be allowed to start building
relationships and that means American travelers will be able to
use their credit and debit cards when visiting.
Americans returning from a trip to Cuba can now return with up to
$400 in Cuban goods, a quarter of which can be spent on alcohol
and tobacco.
Think Cuban cigars.
Is U.S.-Cuba prisoner swap an ice breaker?
And in return, Cuba will free 53 political prisoners and significantly
relax its restrictions on Internet access. Gross had been arrested
after delivering satellite phones and other communications
equipment to Cuba's small Jewish population.
So why doesn't Obama just end the embargo altogether?
He can't. Only Congress can end a trade embargo, which is enshrined into law. But according to White House
officials, the President can ease certain restrictions under his executive authority.
This is the third time Obama has acted to ease the embargo. But
policy changes in 2009 and 2011, which eased travel restrictions
for Cuban-Americans and later for academics and religious
groups, didn't come close to the scope of Wednesday's landmark
agreement.
Does the U.S. have international backing to keep the
embargo in place?
Barely. Over the last two decades, the United Nations General
Assembly has voted each year against the embargo, calling on
the U.S. to reverse its policy.
Only Israel has joined the U.S. in voting against the resolution.
What's the political climate like in the U.S.?
It's shifting and more political leaders and Cuban-Americans have
been calling for changes in the U.S.'s policy toward Cuba in
recent years.
Cuban refugees in the U.S and their descendants have
historically been the most vocal group in calling for a tough U.S.
policy against Cuba. But nearly 7 in 10 Cubans now favor reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and about
half want the U.S. to end the embargo, according to a Florida International University poll this summer.
The embargo's crippling effects on the Cuban economy prompted Raul Castro, the brother of the country's famed
dictator, to beef up efforts to end the embargo once he took the helm in 2008.
While Cuba was sustained by a serious trading relationship with the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, the
Cuban economy took a hard hit with the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.