The Cuban thaw[1][2] (Spanish: deshielo cubano,[3][4] pronounced [desˈʝelo kuˈβano]) was a normalization of Cuba–United States relations from July 2015 to June 2017, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations.

On December 17, 2014, U.S. President Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro announced the beginning of the process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States.

[14][15] President Biden initially eased U.S. restrictions on family remittences and visa permits in 2022, but similarly levied multiple sanctions against Cuba thereafter.

[21] Despite initial U.S. refusals, the prisoner swap eventually took place in December 2014 following the President's announcement of intent to move towards normalized relations.

[26] The prisoner swap marked the biggest shift in White House policy towards Cuba since the imposition of the embargo in 1962, and removed a key obstacle to bilateral relations.

[32] Major League Baseball (MLB) held talks about playing spring training games in Cuba in 2015, but lacked time to arrange them.

(see also Pink tide#Decline) On January 21, 2015, the United States and Cuba began bilateral talks in Havana to discuss further normalization issues.

The U.S. delegation led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta S. Jacobson, and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Cuba's head of North American affairs, sat down for the first day of closed-door talks in the capital's Convention Center.

[44] Reuters reported that civilian uncertainty about the status of U.S. immigration policy following the thaw was promoting a surge of emigrants fleeing Cuba for the U.S.[45] In regard to U.S. interests, the U.S. delegation made it clear that "improved human rights conditions, including freedom of expression and assembly", remain a central element of U.S. policy in normalizing U.S.–Cuban relations.

However, the issue of Cuba's listing among state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. government remained a significant sticking point, although Cuban diplomat Josefina Vidal said its removal was not strictly a precondition to reopening embassies.

[49] After meeting with Obama, Castro called for the reopening of the embassies, while both presidents said they were looking forward to more direct engagement between Cuba and the United States despite their differences.

Roberta Jacobson, an American diplomat, suggested bolstering Internet access and mobile phone service in Cuba to help its integration into the world economy.

[68] On March 20, 2016, Starwood became the first US company to sign a deal with Cuba since the 1959 revolution and agreed to manage two Havana hotels which had formerly been owned by the Cuban government.

[72] A week later, on December 17, 2015 – the first anniversary of D17 – an agreement was reached to re-establish regularly scheduled flights between the U.S. and Cuba for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[75] On July 7, 2016, it was announced that eight US airline companies had been given tentative approval to fly to airports in Cuba and that flights, which would be limited to educational trips, would begin as early as September.

I've made it very clear in my conversations directly with Cuban leader Raúl Castro that we would continue to reach out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free expression inside of Cuba.

A week after the trip, Castro wrote a sternly worded letter admonishing Obama to read up on Cuban history, and declaring that "we don't need the empire to give us anything.

"[97] In December 2014, Raúl Castro publicly thanked Pope Francis and the Catholic Church for their role in the secret talks that led to the U.S.–Cuban prisoner exchange.

[98] At a CELAC meeting in 2015, Raúl Castro gave a speech claiming "Cuba will continue to defend the ideas for which our people have assumed the greatest sacrifices and risks."

But despite his prior backlash against the United States, Castro summarized his speech by praising the recent improvements in American-Cuban relations, and wondered why "the countries of the two Americas, the North and the South, fight together against terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, without politically biased positions.

"[110][111] A survey conducted by Pew Research Center in January 2016 found that 63% of Americans approved of Obama's decision to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, while 28% disapproved.

[112] International reactions were overwhelmingly positive, with Radio Poland having reported that the Polish foreign ministry is encouraging Washington to go further and lift the embargo.

Several Latin American leaders publicly welcomed the thaw, with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro hailing Obama's move toward normalization as a "valiant and historically necessary gesture", despite being a regular critic of U.S.

Juan Carlos Varela, the conservative President of Panama, said that in the 7th Summit of the Americas to be held in his country after April 7, 2015, it will be possible to "achieve the dream of a united region".

[118] Media sources, which were quick to dub the sudden turnaround in relations the "Cuban thaw",[2] have predicted that it will lead to a wide variety of social and economic benefits for the two countries, as well as some less obvious impacts.

"[119] The Associated Press reported environmentalist concerns that the thaw would lead to the opening of "one of the most prolific oil and gas basins on the planet", which sits off the coast of Cuba.

[128] The museum's acquisition of The Pact was covered by Diario Las Américas, the second oldest media outlet in the United States dedicated to Spanish-language readers.

[128] On June 16, 2017, President Donald Trump issued a presidential memorandum reversing some aspects of the Obama administration's actions regarding U.S. relations with Cuba, and characterizing them as "terrible and misguided".

The sanctions had been first mentioned a few days earlier, in a speech by US National Security advisor John Bolton to veterans of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in Miami.

[139] On 14 January 2025, the Biden administration removed Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, as part of a Vatican-brokered prisoner release deal.