Washington, January 21 (RHC-teleSUR) -- In his 2015 State of the Union speech Tuesday night, U.S. President Obama praised the new approach the United States has taken toward Cuba. The president once again recognized the failure of past policy, saying: “When what you’re doing doesn’t work for 50 years, it’s time to do something new.”

Obama also took the opportunity to call on the Republican-led Congress to end the blockade on Cuba. Despite the new rhetoric around Cuba, the U.S. president recently approved sanctions against Venezuela, despite calls for him to veto the bill.

During his speech, Obama reiterated his call to close the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -– the second year in a row that he has mentioned Guantanamo in his annual address. The base remains open with 122 prisoners remaining.

The small South American country of Uruguay received six former Guantanamo prisoners in December 2014 after Uruguayan President Mujica promised President Obama that his country would do its part to close the U.S. base in Guantanamo.

Analysts expected Obama to touch on his decision to temporarily stop the deportation of five million undocumented immigrants, most of whom come from Latin America. However, the U.S. president only made a passing reference to immigrants in his speech.