Cuba and the U.S. will begin to normalize relations in a surprising move Wednesday by the Obama administration that will loosen a trade and travel embargo that is among the last remnants of Cold War policy.

The action means not simply the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Havana but the lifting of restrictions that have limited commerce and kept aficionados from legally bringing Cuban cigars to U.S. soil.

The thaw, wrapped into the release of American aid worker Alan Gross and the exchange of a U.S. spy for three Cuban intelligence agents, was announced Wednesday by President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro speaking at about the same time.