Castro Daughter Proposes Prisoner Swap
BLITZER: My recent interview with the American Alan Gross imprisoned in Cuba cast his name back into the limelight. Now the daughter of Raul Castro is proposing a prisoner swap. She spoke to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Christiane is standing by. She'll join us live for a moment. But, first, listen to what Mariela Castro told Christiane.</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: As you know, there are many issues that caused problems between Cuba and the United States. One of the issues right now is Alan Gross, who you knew very well. You know obviously about his case. You've been asked about it many times. Let me play you something that he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.</s>MARIELA CASTRO, RAUL CASTRO'S DAUGHTER (through translator): Alan Gross has been granted everything he asked for. He's been able to see his wife. He's been able to have matrimonial conjugal visits and he has been treated with respect and dignity the way we always treat prisoners in Cuba. We haven't received the same treatment on the other hand for our five prisoners who have very long sentences that must be right. I think that the six must be released, both the five Cubans and Alan Gross.</s>AMANPOUR: Is that what you're saying, that Alan Gross should be released and the Cuban five?</s>CASTRO: Of course, I'm referring to the five Cubans and Alan Gross. I believe this would be the happiest solution for all involved.</s>BLITZER: Christiane is joining us now live in New York. Christiane, did you get a sense she was speaking on behalf of her father, speaking on behalf of the Cuban government, just throwing out these ideas on her own?</s>AMANPOUR: Well, look, I don't think she was throwing out ideas on her own. She made it perfectly clear that she's speaking to an international, a U.S. audience and she's here if not officially, which she was not. She's not representing the Cuban government. But she obviously has the ear of the president, I mean, he's her father. And so, what she's saying is clearly going to have been at least run by Raul Castro. And that is their position. I asked her about a humanitarian visit, humanitarian dispensation, she said, you know, we're not talking about partial solutions, you heard what she said. But she kept saying, I want to see all of them released, that would be the best thing.</s>BLITZER: Well, the U.S. government, as you know, State Department, including the secretary of state, they've rejected any swap, any exchange of these five Cuban prisoners held in United States for Alan Gross. I don't know if that's going to have an impact, at least they're talking about it to a certain degree. Another part of your interview, Christiane, was really fascinating when you spoke to her about -- not only U.S.-Cuban relations, but also the impact of President Obama. Let me play this clip.</s>AMANPOUR: Did you expect more from President Obama or has he gone as far as you expected him to go on the Cuban issue? Do you think he wants to lift the embargo and that there could be proper relations between Cuba and the United States under a second Obama term?</s>CASTRO: I believe that Obama is a fair man and Obama needs greater support to be able to take this decision. If Obama counted on the full support of the American people, we could normalize relationships. We could have better relations than what we had under President Carter.</s>AMANPOUR: Do you want Obama to win the next election?</s>CASTRO: As a citizen of the world, I would like him to win. Seeing the candidates, I prefer Obama.</s>BLITZER: Did she give you any sense of what Cuba would do -- this is by the way an endorsement, I suspect, the Obama campaign is not thrilled necessarily to have. But did she give you a sense of what might happen over the next five months if the Cubans wanted to do something to improve their relationship with the United States?</s>AMANPOUR: Well, look, I think like many people around the world, nobody really expects anything to get done about these massive significant issues anytime before the election. So, just about everything, as you know, is on hold in that regard. However, we pressed her not necessarily on what might happen between the U.S. and Cuba, although she said that she thought that the parameters were there to improve relations and frankly to mend relations. She put everything as many Cuban officials do in the parameters of the embargo, this 50-year economic blockade that the Cubans use as a reason and a justification for just about everything. So she says when that is gone, and as you know that policy has spectacularly failed if the idea was to get rid of the Castros, it hasn't worked. And, as you know, the demographics are changing so much in the Cuban-American community and younger people don't have the same hard line attitudes of the old people, but I also pushed her on what's going on inside Cuba, the space that she's opened up in gay rights. And remember, in Cuba, gays used to be put in reeducation camp. During the AIDS crisis, gays were put into quarantine and isolation. And so, this machismo culture in Cuba has changed, to accept gay rights now. And she says that for instance, the idea of civil unions and accepting that is going to be brought up by the Cuban parliament. But I asked her about democracy and political pluralism and dissent, and again, she said these are the things that we need to be working on. She point to what Raul Castro has done since he became president, which is open the economic sphere to a certain degree, a little bit of free enterprise, ability to buy your farms and properties and vehicles and things like that and have small businesses, but on the political side, saying that that too needed to be worked on and to be expanded. Interesting also in the issue of travel, as you know very well, Cubans can't leave without special permission to leave and come back, she said that too needs to be changed and this immigration ideas she thinks is going to come up in the Cuban parliament this year. So, it's interesting.</s>BLITZER: Very interesting, I think behind the scenes, some stuff is unfolding, especially in connection with the Alan Gross case, but we'll stay on top of that. Christiane, thanks very, very much. Christiane Amanpour here in THE SITUATION ROOM. The war on terror and the soul of the Obama presidency. We're going to talk to the author of a brand new book about the president's willingness to go after bad guys around the world and we're also go to ask him his shocking account of an alleged fight, almost a fistfight that broke out between the Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder and the top Obama official in the White House, David Axelrod. What happened? What really happened? Stand by.