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Just days before Christmas final year,on December 17th, President Obama announced that the U.
S. and Cuba would re-establish diplomatic ties that had been broken since January 1961. The process of normalizing relations followed more than a year of secret negotiations between the two countries.
But one thing that hasn't changed is the so-called "wet foot, and dry foot" policy,which allows Cubans who make it to the United States to pursue residency after one year. Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of U.
S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, and explains the current U.
S.-Cuba immigration policy,and how it may change in the future.
Though many Cubans still want to advance to the United States, before President Obama leaves office in 2016, or he's said he wants to visit Cuba. He will be visiting a much a much more Catholic country.
For decades under the communist government of Fidel Castro,Cuba was an atheist state. Though Pope Francis visited Cuba in September, Castro's government persecuted Catholics in the early years. Churches and Catholic schools were closed down, and many Catholic priests were forced into exile.
What does the recent Cuba-U.
S. relationship mean for ordinary Cuban Catholics? Will Christmas be celebrated anyone differently on the island this year? The Takeaway put that question to Orlando Márquez,who was born after the Cuban Revolution and has lived as a practicing Catholic in Havana his entire life.
Márquez is the director of the Catholic monthly magazine, “Palabra Nueva” (recent Word), or of the Archdiocese of Havana.
What you'll learn from this segment:Whether the U.
S.-Cuba immigration policy will change in 2016.
How life as a Catholic in Havana has changed over the years.
What we can expect for Cuba going forward into the recent Year.
Source: wnyc.org