Leahy says US flag raising in Cuba was deeply moving

Mr Kerry conceded that the US policies of the past had not led to the democracy in Cuba that they had sought.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro said, in an open letter released on Thursday, the US owed millions of dollars to Cuba as a result of the 53-year-long embargo. In 1961, the three men lowered the flag on the U.S. embassy in Havana for the last time.

“We have decided today to establish a bilateral commission to address issues that must urgently be addressed, including those that remained without a solution for over 50 years”, said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at the press conference held at the National Hotel of Havana.

Not all the talk was as warm as the sunny summer day. Obama has loosened the economic ban through a series of executive actions, but Congress will have to act to fully lift the trade barrier.

Both countries also have outstanding financial claims – Washington is seeking repayment for damages that were incurred when American property was seized during the revolution while Havana wants compensation for the damage caused by the U.S. embargo.

Friday’s flag-raising ceremony marks a milestone in the relations between the two nations, but tensions remain.

“Cuba is not a place where you can see police brutality or racial discrimination”, he said.

Cuban dissident Antonio Rodiles is not holding his breath.

Recalling the moment when he learned about the news of the rapprochement in December, Cuban engineer Jesus Gonzalez said that “the news surprised most people, on the island and outside it. It may have filled many with false expectations, but time will tell”. The U.S. raised its flag in Havana then, too, though saving the formal ceremony for Kerry’s visit.

Numerous invited guests took selfies by a new sign that read “Embassy of the United States“. In 2002, former President Jimmy Carter addressed Cubans in an unprecedented hour of live, uncensored television – telling them their country did not meet worldwide standards of democracy and repeatedly promoting a grass-roots campaign for greater civil liberties. Flake said he hopes the symbolic move will hasten the end of travel restrictions on Americans going to Cuba.

The United States and Cuba formally renewed diplomatic relations and upgraded their diplomatic missions to embassies nearly four weeks ago. He said Cuba had done “almost nothing” to combat human trafficking over the past year.

Like Obama, Kerry said a longtime U.S. strategy of trying to isolate Cuba and provoke regime change by choking off trade and fomenting grass-roots agitation had failed. It would be equally unrealistic to expect normalizing relations to have, in a short term, a transformational impact.

With Cuban authorities suspicious of Washington’s call for reform after decades of hostility, Kerry quickly added that “Cuba’s future is for Cubans to shape”.

Thousands of Cubans gathered outside of the embassy, some holding American and Cuban flags together as they celebrated the historic occasion.