AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini spoke with Al Jazeera's Antonio Mora about U.S.-Cuba relations as the two countries move to restore ties. He spoke about the implications of Cuba's delay in releasing 53 political prisoners and what's next for the two countries' recently reestablished relationship. 

El una propuesta que fue rechazada, el 5 de enero el Presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro ofreció liberar al líder de la oposición Leopoldo López, a cambio de que Estados Unidos ponga en libertad al nacionalista puertorriqueño Óscar López Rivera. En una entrevista para CNN en Español, el Director Senior de Política Pública de AS/COA, Christopher Sabatini, calificó la propuesta de Maduro como "una profunda falta de sofisticación sobre la justicia y la diplomacia".

Sabatini se refirió también al empeoramiento de la economía de Venezuela debido a la caída del precio del petróleo y el efecto de ésta sobre las relaciones con Cuba. “Cuba, ideológicamente, no va a distanciarse de Venezuela”, dijo Sabatini, pero anticipó que "mientras la economía venezolana esté cayendo, Cuba tiene que buscar otras alternativas”, lo cual ayuda a explicar el reciente acercamiento a Estados Unidos.

The decision to begin normalizing relations between United States and Cuba is a "survival strategy" for the island, AS/COA's Senior Policy Director Christopher Sabatini said on CNN. "The lifeline that Venezuela threw to Cuba...100,000 oil barrels per day, now looks like it's going to dry up," he added. Venezuela's falling oil prices and struggling economy mean that a closer relationship with the United States marks a strategic move for the island, said Sabatini. He also discussed how loosened travel and trade restrictions will effect investment in Cuba.

Speaking to Bloomberg, AS/COA's Director of Policy Christopher Sabatini outlined how the United States' relationship with Cuba will change. In particular, Sabatini highlights growing entrepreneurship on the island and agricultural trade between the two countries, claiming it will allow "U.S. agriculutral producers to recover a lot of the market they've lost recently." Plus, U.S. ties will irk Cuba's relationship with some Latin American countries like Venezuela, but may give Chile and Colombia greater freedom to advance democracy in the region, he said.