It’s Official: US-Cuba Reopen Embassies after 54 Years
By Daniel Garcia Marco and Isaac Risco
HAVANA TIMES — As the clock struck midnight on Monday morning the United States and Cuba resumed diplomatic relations after more than 54 years of rupture.
The reopening of their embassies today is another step in the rapprochement between the two countries announced on 17 December last year by presidents Castro and Obama.
At 0:01 a.m. (5:01 GMT) the buildings that had housed both countries Interests Section in Havana and Washington D.C. since 1977 became formal embassies.
The most symbolic event of the day will be held at 10:30 am (ET) at the Cuban embassy in Washington, when the Cuban flag will be hoisted and a new sign identifying the embassy presented.
Some 500 guests are invited to the ceremony to be headed by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. An evening party celebrating the event has also been announced by the peace group Code Pink in front of the newly opened embassy.
The United States will be represented by Roberta Jacobson, who heads the Latin American desk at the State Department and who for the last six months has been the US government representative in bilateral negotiations.
Foreign Minister Rodriguez will meet later in the day Washington with his US counterpart, John Kerry.
In Havana there are no plans today for any formal act of reopening the embassy. The US flag will be officially hoisted when Kerry visits the island in the near future.
For the moment there will be no ambassadors. Jeffrey DeLaurentis, currently head of the US Interests Section in Havana, becomes the chargé d’affaires, as is Jose Ramon Cabañas for Cuba. Both countries should appoint ambassadors later.
A Cuban flag will be placed in the lobby of the headquarters of the State Department with that of other countries with which the United States has relations.
In announcing the reopening of the embassies on July 1, US President Obama called it “a historic step forward in normalizing relations with the government of Cuba and its people, and to begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas.”
The first step was actually taken on 17 December last year, when both countries made the historic announcement that they would resume relations, after 18 months of secret negotiations.
This was followed by six months of talks and an unprecedented meeting of the two presidents in April in Panama during the Summit of the Americas.
However the rapprochement does not end on Monday. Both sides have indicated beforehand that the full normalization of relations will be a “long and difficult” path.
“Nobody expects Cuba to change overnight,” said Obama, who believes that the opening of embassies will “support democracy and human rights” on the island.
Meanwhile Raul Castro reiterated last week that in order to have “normal relations,” Washington must lift the embargo it imposed on Cuba in the 1960’s. The younger brother of Fidel Castro also demanded the return of the territory housing the Guantanamo naval base, another of the long-standing claims by Cuba.
Cuba and it’s people deserve better, they have been enclosed in a financial vac for far too long. Yes the revolution, which incidentally was quite a number of years ago now, was fought by a band of freedom fighters and the people of Cuba are grateful for what they achieved for them ‘Freedom’ only to be enslaved by the very same government that won that ‘Freedom’ for them all those years ago. Take this opportunity with both hands and trade freely with the rest of the world, yes you will make bad as well as good decisions, but we hope that at least you will be given the opportunity to make your own decisions. The old regime is exactly that ‘OLD’ it is the time of the younger generation of Cuban youth to make a future for yourselves. The future is bright and the opportunities are massive. All i ask is that you be very careful in your dealings with these peoplewho will promise you the earth, in exchange for?. The very best for the future.
Dictators whether they be of the left or the right politically are bad. The unfortunate people of Cuba got them in succession. For some strange reason, some contributors insist on creating diversion from whatever is the subject under discussion by dragging in countries that are irrelevant as so many dead cats.
Yes, Ghengiz Khan was bad and so was Stalin. Napoleon eventually took a licking and Saudi Arabia which includes Mecca, doesn’t allow women to drive.
The subject is the opening of Embassies by Cuba and the US!
Perhaps if the Saudis were to take over Cuba, along with all of their political and human rights shortcomings, that would be much more palatable for you? Give me a break! What a load of hypocritical BS! The Saudis are America’s ally because you need their oil…plain and simple. Cut the crap!
“Cubans deserve a government of their choosing and not one forced upon them by Batista, Castro or Miami”. You forgot to mention the U.S. government…how convenient. After all, it’s your government that has been trying to FORCE regime change for 5 decades in Cuba…at the expense of the Cuban people as well.
I feel no burning on my ass or anywhere else for that matter. It was reported that Secretary Kerry will be in Havana on August 14 to raise an American flag at the US embassy. Will those Cuban guards in their blue uniforms continue to be stationed ever 30 meters encircling the US embassy? Will the Ladies in White be allowed to publicly assemble outside the US embassy without harassment in the same way the ladies in pink (CODEPINK) are freely assembled in Washington outside the Cuban embassy?
“Very, very little has changed”. Ah yes…but things are changing, as much as that now burns your ass. Poor Moses. Thank God that your childish arrogance and intolerance is limited to mocking the process here. There’s hope for America, despite you. There’s hope for Cuba too, without you. Let’s face it…your juvenile attitude will never be part of the solution.
I agree with Obama’s policy of engagement with our enemies. He ran on this promise and is well to keep it as his term in office comes to an end. I differ with your comparison of our relationships with Saudi Arabia and Cuba. Different countries merit different approaches. The Saudis are our allies and merit a more cooperative approach to influencing their internal politics. Cuba, under the dictatorship of the Castros, sought to destroy the US and kill Americans. Cooperation was largely not an option available. Saying “Castro may have done a lot of terrible things to some Cubans” is understating reality. It is a false dichotomy to compare the Castros tyrannical rule to the preceding dictatorship. They are both bad. Cubans deserve a government of their choosing and not one forced upon them by Batista, Castro or Miami.
I agree with your comment Secular!! You’re probably going tonight so give us an update.
I’m assuming you’re not going nor invited! That would have been interesting.
Yes, what it says is that women who think that diplomacy is a better approach than taking a hard line or military action are happy that the US is finally treating other countries with respect, even if we disagree with their actions.
Castro may have done a lot of terrible things to some Cubans, but that doesn’t mean he was any worse than Batista. The US shouldn’t get to dictate to other countries who they should choose to run their governments. The US has been totally hypocritical about Cuba for more than 50 years. We seem to have no problem being “friends” with Saudi Arabia, whose human rights abuses are if anything worse than anything the Cuban government has done.
Reopening embassies and actually having a diplomatic relationship is MUCH more likely to lead to dialog that might create change than our prior policy of acting like a petulant child and refusing to talk until they get rid of their leader and do everything else that we wanted them to do.
This is probably one of the least appreciated, but more effective parts of Obama’s long term legacy. His approach to diplomacy over just unilateral demands has made the world a much safer place. Especially compared to the neocon approach of going to war any time someone sneezes in a way we didn’t like.
Sort of seems anticlimactic. After 54 years, the embassies reopen but so what? Very, very little has changed. It says a lot that CODEPINK is throwing the Afterparty in the street.