New Era Begins In US-Cuba Relations

In Havana, the USA embassy was also reopened for business with no outward sign of change.

But the symbolism of an embassy ceremony could not hide deep, lingering conflicts between the nations.

During a ceremony full of pomp and circumstance, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez raised the Cuban flag at the embassy in Washington.

On the same day, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez meet John Kerry at the U.S. Department of State. Folks in Havana will see the flag of the United States above our embassy there sometime next month, when Secretary of State John Kerry visits for the ceremonial unfurling.

At midnight July 20, the USA and Cuba resumed diplomatic relations after 54 years of broken ties.

Despite pledges of goodwill and mutual respect, ghosts of past animosity hung over the events.

Kerry said the process of fully normalizing relations will continue, though it may be long and complex and requiring patience.

President Obama had sought to engage Cuba since he first took office – his administration have progressively loosened restrictions on travel and remittances to the island – but the larger effort to formalize relations were frustrated for years by Cuba’s imprisonment of Alan Gross, a contractor for the US Agency for worldwide Development, on espionage charges.

Though normalization has taken center stage in the U.S.-Cuba relationship, both Rodriguez and Kerry admit that serious differences remain between the USA and Cuba.

Jubilant travelers returning from Cuba were reuniting with kids and relatives.

For his part, Kerry underscored that though progress has been made, there are still stark differences that “separate our governments”.

Prior to Monday, the Cuban embassy was known as Washington’s Cuban Interests Section.

This started the conflict between two counties, strain Cuba-US relations. But sticking points remain, chief among them, Havana’s demand for an end to a crippling trade embargo and USA calls for democracy and human rights in Cuba.

Castor said she spoke today at the new embassy with Google officials who say they now are building relationships with the Cuban government.

People gather outside the Cuban embassy in Washington, DC on July 20, 2015 ©Paul J.

Cuba was able to survive the past 50 years only because of the “wise leadership of Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban revolution whose ideas we’ll always revere”, Rodriguez said. The US stands to gain, and so does the average Cuban.

Kerry acknowledged that Cuba felt strongly about Guantanamo, but said it wasn’t something the USA was willing to discuss at the moment, though that could change.

To which one might well ask: OK, so why then do we have diplomatic relations with China?

Assistant Secretary of State Robert Jacobson, who led the talks to restore ties, was the highest ranking USA official to attend.

The rapprochement was announced on December 17, as Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro agreed to end their countries’ estrangement.

“Throughout this entire negotiation, as the Castro regime has stepped up its repression of the Cuban people, the Obama administration has continued to look the other way and offer concession after concession”, Mr Rubio said in a July 1st statement.

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