Reuters
At a press conference on Wednesday, American contractor Alan Gross spoke for this first time since being released from Cuban prison after five years. "I truly hope we can no get beyond these mutually belligerent policies," he said, "I was very happy to hear what the president had to say today." Gross was jailed for allegedly trying to destabilize the Cuban government and his imprisonment was one of the final obstacles to normalizing relations between Cuba and the U.S. "This is a game-changer which i fully support," he declared, when talking about Wednesday's announcement by the White House of formalized diplomatic relations. Before leaving the podium Gross reminded viewers that, "A judicious lesson that I’ve learned from this experience is that freedom is never free."