On January 14, 2013, Cuba's new travel policy went into effect whereby Cubans wanting to travel abroad no longer need an exit permit and letter of invitation. Under the new policy, travel requires only an updated passport and a visa issued by the country of destination, if required. Thousands of Cubans lined up at government migration offices and travel agencies on the first day. While on its face, the new policy can be viewed as a human rights improvement, how significant that improvement is will depend on how the law is implemented. (See " Cuba Alters Its Policy Regarding Exit Permits " below.) On January 3, 2012, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) reported that there were at least 6,602 short-detentions for political reasons in 2012, (a 60% increase over 2011). (See " Cuban Government's Change of Repressive Tactics " below.) On December 10, 2012 (Human Right Day), the State Department issued a press statement expressing deep concern about Cuba's "repeated use of arbitrary detention and violence to silence critics, disrupt peaceful assembly, and intimidate independent society." (See " Policy Developments in 2012 " below.) On December 5, 2012, the Senate approved S.Res. 609 (Moran) by voice vote, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Alan Gross, the USAID subcontractor imprisoned in Cuba since December 2009, and urging the Cuban government to address his medical issues. On November 16, 2012, Gross filed suit (along with his wife) in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, against the U.S. government and his employer, Development Alternatives Inc., alleging that they "failed to disclose adequately.... the material risks that he faced" during his trips to Cuba. Gross had been working in Cuba on a U.S.-funded democracy project. (See " December 2009 Imprisonment of Alan Gross " below.) On November 19, 2012, official peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began in Havana. (See " Terrorism Issues " below.) On November 7, 2012, Cuban security agents arrested government critic Antonio Rodiles, and charged him with "resisting authority." Rodiles ultimately was released on November 26, 2012, and charges of "resisting authority" were dropped, but according to Amnesty International (which had issued an urgent appeal for his release), Rodiles was warned not to continue with his activism in Cuba. Rodiles is one of the coordinators of an initiative begun in June 2012 known as the "Citizens' Demand for Another Cuba," which calls on the Cuban government to implement the legal guarantees and policies in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to ratify two U.N. human rights conventions. (See " Cuban Government's Change of Repressive Tactics " below.) On November 2, 2012, Cuba announced that an oil well being drilled offshore Cuba by the Venezuelan state oil company, PdVSA, was not commercially viable. The Italian-owned oil rig, Scarabeo-9, departed Cuba on November 14, reportedly to West Africa. This was the third well drilled by foreign oil companies offshore Cuba this year that did not find oil, and was a significant setback for the Cuban government's efforts to develop its deepwater offshore hydrocarbon resources. (See " Cuba's Offshore Oil Development " below.) For additional entries, see Appendix B . Political and economic developments in Cuba and U.S. policy toward the island nation, located just 90 miles from the United States, have been significant congressional concerns for many years. Since the end of the Cold War, Congress has played an active role in shaping U.S. policy toward Cuba, first with the enactment of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 ( P.L. 102-484 , Title XVII) and then with the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 ( P.L. 104-114 ). Both of these measures strengthened U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba that had first been imposed in the early 1960s, but the measures also provided roadmaps for a normalization of relations dependent upon significant political and economic changes in Cuba. A decade ago, Congress modified its sanctions-based policy toward Cuba somewhat when it enacted the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 ( P.L. 106-387 , Title IX) allowing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba that led to the United States becoming a major source for Cuba's food imports. Over the past decade, much of the debate over U.S. policy in Congress has focused on U.S. sanctions, especially over U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba. The George W. Bush Administration initially liberalized U.S. family travel to Cuba in 2003, but subsequently tightened restrictions on family and other categories of travel in 2004 because of Cuba's crackdown on political dissidents. In 2009, Congress took legislative action in an appropriations measure ( P.L. 111-8 ) to ease restrictions on family travel and travel for the marketing of agricultural exports, marking the first congressional action easing Cuba sanctions in almost a decade. The Obama Administration took further action in April 2009 by lifting all restrictions on family travel and on cash remittances by family members to their relatives in Cuba and restarting semi-annual migration talks that had been curtailed in 2004. In January 2011, the Administration announced the further easing of restrictions on educational and religious travel to Cuba and on non-family remittances, and it also expanded eligible airports in the United States authorized to serve licensed charter flights to and from Cuba. This report is divided into three major sections analyzing Cuba's political and economic situation, U.S. policy toward Cuba, and selected issues in U.S.-Cuban relations. The first section on the political and economic situation includes a brief historical background, a discussion of the human rights situation and political prisoners, and an examination of economic policy changes that have occurred to date under Raúl Castro. The second section on U.S. policy provides a broad overview of U.S. policy historically through the George W. Bush Administration and then provides a brief discussion of the broad debate on the direction of U.S. policy toward Cuba. Policy under the Obama Administration is then examined in more detail. The third section analyzes many of the key issues in U.S.-Cuban relations that have been at the forefront of the U.S. policy debate on Cuba and have often been the subject of legislative initiatives. These include U.S. restrictions on travel, remittances, and agricultural exports to Cuba; a sanction that denies protection for certain Cuban trademarks; the status of anti-drug cooperation with Cuba; the status of Cuba's offshore development and implications for disaster response preparedness; terrorism issues, especially in consideration of Cuba remaining on the State Department's state sponsors of terrorism list; U.S. funding for democracy and human rights projects; U.S. government-sponsored broadcasting to Cuba (Radio and TV Martí); and migration issues. Cuba did not become an independent nation until 1902. From its discovery by Columbus in 1492 until the Spanish-American War in 1898, Cuba was a Spanish colony. In the 19 th century, the country became a major sugar producer with slaves from Africa arriving in increasing numbers to work the sugar plantations. The drive for independence from Spain grew stronger in the second half of the 19 th century, but it only came about after the United States entered the conflict when the USS Maine sank in Havana Harbor after an explosion of undetermined origin. In the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, the United States ruled Cuba for four years until Cuba was granted its independence in 1902. Nevertheless, the United States still retained the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve Cuban independence and maintain stability in accordance with the Platt Amendment that became part of the Cuban Constitution of 1901. The United States subsequently intervened militarily three times between 1906 and 1921 to restore order, but in 1934, the Platt Amendment was repealed. Cuba's political system as an independent nation was often dominated by authoritarian figures. Gerardo Machado (1925-1933), who served two terms as president, became increasingly dictatorial until he was ousted by the military. A short-lived reformist government gave way to a series of governments that were dominated behind the scenes by military leader Fulgencio Batista until he was elected president in 1940. Batista was voted out of office in 1944 and was followed by two successive presidents in a democratic era that ultimately became characterized by corruption and increasing political violence. Batista seized power in a bloodless coup in 1952 and his rule progressed into a brutal dictatorship. This fueled popular unrest and set the stage for Fidel Castro's rise to power. Castro led an unsuccessful attack on military barracks in Santiago, Cuba, on July 26, 1953. He was jailed, but subsequently freed and went into exile in Mexico where he formed the 26 th of July Movement. Castro returned to Cuba in 1956 with the goal of overthrowing the Batista dictatorship. His revolutionary movement was based in the Sierra Maestra and joined with other resistance groups seeking Batista's ouster. Batista ultimately fled the country on January 1, 1959, leading to more than 45 years of rule under Fidel Castro until he stepped down from power provisionally in July 2006 because of poor health. While Castro had promised a return to democratic constitutional rule when he first took power, he instead moved to consolidate his rule, repress dissent, and imprison or execute thousands of opponents. Under the new revolutionary government, Castro's supporters gradually displaced members of less radical groups. Castro moved toward close relations with the Soviet Union while relations with the United States deteriorated rapidly as the Cuban government expropriated U.S. properties (see " Background on U.S.-Cuban Relations " below).