Students and teachers celebrate after listening to a live, nationally broadcast speech by Cuba's President Raul Castro about the country's restoration of relations with the United States, at a school in Havana. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
Students and teachers celebrate after listening to a live, nationally broadcast speech by Cuba's President Raul Castro about the country's restoration of relations with the United States, at a school in Havana. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
A woman holds a Cuban flag while celebrating the restoration of diplomatic relations between the island nation and the United States, in the courtyard of the Cuban Embassy in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Luis Hidalgo/AP
A woman hands out strips of yellow paper, symbolizing support for the Cuban Five, who were released by the US government, while celebrating the restoration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States. Photo: Luis Hidalgo/AP
Two women embrace while celebrating the restoration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, in the courtyard of the Cuban Embassy in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Luis Hidalgo/AP
Women with posters of the Cuban Five celebrate their release, in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
Alan Gross celebrates onboard a government plane headed back to the US with his wife, Judy Gross in this December 17, 2014 White House handout photo.Photo: Lawrence Jackson/White House/Handout via Reuters
A group of Chileans and Cubans celebrate the announcement of the normalization of the relations between Cuba and USA. Photo: MARIO RUIZ/EPA
A man waves a Cuban flag while celebrating the restoration of diplomatic relations between the island nation and the United States, in the courtyard of the Cuban Embassy in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Luis Hidalgo/AP
A woman holds a Cuban and a Chilean flag while celebrating the restoration of diplomatic relations between the island nation and the United States, in the courtyard of the Cuban Embassy in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Luis Hidalgo/AP
A woman with a poster of the Cuban Five, that reads in Spanish "Freedom Now," celebrates their release, in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Ramon Espinosa/AP
A woman walks past a bicycle taxi with the U.S. and Cuban flags in Havana. Photo: Enrique De La Osa/Reuters
People walk near a photograph of late revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Havana. Photo: Enrique De La Osa/Reuters
A woman wearing pants with the colors of the U.S. flag walks on a street in Havana. Photo: Reuters
A woman buys fruit from a street cart in Havana. Stunned Cubans celebrated an apparent end to decades of conflict with the United States. Photo: Reuters
Cuban Oscar Martinez sports a tattoo of late revolutionary hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara while sitting at his street stall in Havana. Photo: Reuters
Published Dec 18, 2014
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Bells rang as Raul Castro told his country that Cuba was restoring relations with the US after more than 50 years of hostility.
In the wake of a prisoner exchange, President Barack Obama said Washington was ready for a "new chapter" in relations with communist Cuba and would re-establish its embassy in Havana, shuttered since 1961.
