Kerry to host Cuba foreign minister in Washington on Monday

In a symbolic ceremony marking the end of 54 years of hostility, Cuba will raise its flag over a limestone mansion here on Monday and officially reopen its embassy.

The USA embassy in Havana is expected to reopen formally in August and Kerry will visit the country on that occasion.

Rodriguez, the primary Cuban foreign minister to go to Washington since across the time of the Cuban Revolution, …

He said the agenda would cover areas of possible cooperation, such as global health and the Cuban people’s expanded “access to telecommunications”, as well as points of contention, including Cuba’s human rights record and USA fugitives sheltering on the island.

Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, who oversees the State Department’s budget in the House Appropriations Committee, said on Wednesday that she would try to block any funding designed to convert the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to an embassy.

Before the normalization of bilateral ties, Cuba has demand the United States lift its more than 50-year-old economic blockade, return the land occupied by the us naval base in Guantanamo, stop the radio and television broadcasting aimed at subverting the Cuban government, and fix the damages caused by the us hostile policy in half a century. Washington and Havana’s top diplomats met in April during the Summit of the Americas in Panama, where Obama and Castro also held talks.

State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Kerry and Rodriguez would hold a news conference after their meeting.

The re-establishment of embassies, agreed to on July 1, opens a new chapter of engagement by easing government contacts heavily constrained since the United States broke off relations in 1961. Obama has already relaxed some trade and travel restrictions but only the Republican-controlled Congress can overturn the embargo, and the U.S. president faces fierce opposition from some lawmakers.

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