Never Give Up: ‘US Still Seeks Regime Change in Cuba’

They cheered as Kerry spoke, the United States Army Brass Quintet played “The Star-Spangled Banner” and U.S. Marines raised the flag alongside the building overlooking the famous Malecon seaside promenade.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R, back) gestures during the flag raising ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, on August. 14, 2015. “And they don’t understand why their one country was singled out out of all the other countries in the world, why they can’t do business or visit”.

“The best atmosphere I’ve ever played in”, said forward Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, a hero on Saturday, who had two points in Sunday’s win.

Even so, many doubt it will lead to major changes. “In no way does that imply it is a complete count of actual deaths or disappearances”, Cuba Archive director Maria Werlau says of the figures.

“No. No. It’s just the first step”, Vidal said. “My friends, we are gathered here today because our leaders – President Obama and President Castro – made a courageous decision to stop being the prisoners of history and to focus on the opportunities of today and tomorrow”.

“It will take time, but I think the most important thing is that we are willing to do that and the Cuban government is willing to do that”, Vidal said.

Cuban dissident Antonio Rodiles is not holding his breath.

“Yes, that’s positive for the cause”, he said.

The reopening of the embassy could have huge implications on legislation making its way around Washington.

Others watched it all at home or at work.

Mr Kerry said the US administration wanted to lift the trade embargo on the island – something that the Republican-controlled US Congress has blocked.

“With a salary, I can’t sustain myself”.

It’s hard to believe that less than 10 years later, Bush’s erstwhile opponent John Kerry would be standing in the same plaza, in the shadow of the same embassy, watching an American flag fly up another flagpole. Many see a country in disrepair with limited communications and very little economic opportunity.

“The leaders in Havana – and the Cuban people – should also know that the United States will remain a champion of democratic principles and reforms”, Kerry said. “We really need to pass my bill”, she said.

“The United States has had ten new presidents”.

“Clearly, the events of the past – the harsh words, the provocative and retaliatory actions, the human tragedies – all have been a source of deep division that has diminished our common humanity”, he said.

Responding to a question from the Jamaica Observer that the Cuban vote in the next Presidential election in the United States could determine the speed at which the embargo is lifted, Professor Fernandez Tabio ruled that out as an influential factor. “The two sides have to remove the obstacles that have kept Cubans away”.

He will not, however, meet with either Castro or his elder brother Fidel, the icon who led Cuba from its 1959 revolution until his retirement in 2006.

Among the invited guests for the brief ceremony on the plaza outside the embassy was Havana’s Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino.

According to Kerry, there are many complex issues on the table that have to be prioritized and areas in which progress can be achieved more easily, ‘although we do not reject any topic that could emerge in the process’.