Cuba aviation deal allows 30 scheduled flights a day

One year after President Obama announced that he planned to “normalize” relations with the Castro regime, it is time to take stock of how the Cuban people, the purported beneficiaries of the President’s policy toward Cuba, have fared.

Thomas Engle, the deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs, tells the AP the deal doesn’t anticipate flights to the U.S.by Cuba’s national airline.

United Airlines issued a brief press release in which the carrier “Congratulates the USA and Cuban governments on reaching this historic arrangement, which will strengthen ties and economic development between the two countries”.

Kass said the government is expected to authorize 20 daily scheduled flights to Havana and 10 scheduled flights per day to each of the other Cuban destinations. The U.S. government claimed the talks were aimed to better improve the lives of the Cuban population and strengthen cooperation across the Americas. “I think you’ll see a lot more Republicans shifting their position”. Other carriers, including American Airlines and United Airlines, have expressed interest in starting commercial flights as soon as they get permission.

An American Airlines airplane prepares to land at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana September 19, 2015.

He says the US still has differences with Cuba, including on human rights, and will keep raising those issues.

“The encounter that we’ve had, this new relationship that we’re starting to foster between the Cuban Baseball Federation and Major League Baseball and (the players’ union), gives us an indication of things we need to do now and into the future”, Castro said during a private interview with reporters from the States covering MLB’s goodwill tour.

People from the United States can only travel to Cuba with special permits, for religious, cultural, journalistic or educational purposes, or for “people-to-people” contacts.

While U.S. officials still criticize Cuba for human rights, they now believe promoting political and other freedoms is more likely to be achieved through engagement. “It’s the best way for us because we have parents there and here and this is very good for relations”.

The agreement, reached late December 16, means that charter operations can continue between the U.S. and Cuba and scheduled services can begin, although no timeline was given.

Describing the decades-long embargo on Cuba as a “legacy of a failed policy” Obama added that although the two countries had taken a number of steps “change does not happen overnight, and normalization will be a long journey”. One of the most damaging spies in USA history, Ana Belen Montes, remains in federal prison for espionage against the United States on behalf of the Castro regime.

Freyre said the last time he was in Havana it caught his eye there were numerous employees being trained at terminal 2, where USA flights arrive and depart.