Flag raised in Cuba as U.S. Embassy reopens

The Marines were interviewed earlier this week by The New York Times, and have recalled their experiences in the past. But dissidents were not invited to the flag-raising in deference to the Cuban government.

Morris, recalling that promise, said he didn’t expect to return to Cuba soon after the flag was lowered, but added, “we didn’t think it was going to go 54 years”.

The flag-raising ceremony where he spoke was symbolic because Washington and Havana upgraded their limited diplomatic missions to embassies on July 20.

Meanwhile, Cubans have been seen lining up outside the US Embassy in Havana for visas for US, either to shift permanently and live with relatives or to have a tour visit. The event also was attended by dissidents including Jose Daniel Ferrer, Miriam Leiva and Yoani Sanchez, who tweeted a selfie of with Kerry and a photo of the secretary of state meeting privately with a group of dissidents.

The events underscored the potential as well as the limits of rekindled U.S.-Cuba relations.

A number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers are working together to push for legislation that would ease parts of the trade embargo, and there are powerful business and agricultural interests behind opening up relations with Cuba.

“The deal with Cuba threatens America’s moral standing in our hemisphere and around the world, it brings legitimacy to a state sponsor of terror, and further empowers an ally of China and Russian Federation that sits just 90 miles from our shore”. “Not only did they have to give up their belongings, most came to this country with nothing but a suitcase”, said Negrin. Responsibility for change “rests, as it should, not with any outside entity, but exclusively with the citizens of this country”.

“We are gathered here because our leaders made a courageous decision to stop being prisoners of history”, Kerry told a crowd at the embassy, mixing Spanish into his remarks.

Former president Fidel Castro marked his 89th birthday with a newspaper column on Thursday repeating assertions that the US owes socialist Cuba “numerous millions of dollars” for damages caused by its decades-long embargo. Hope remains strong that the U.S. and Cuban government are able to create long-lasting and profitable opportunities for travel, trade, and investment among the two countries.

Kerry’s Cuban counterpart, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, also expressed his country’s will for the re-establishment of diplomatic ties.

The Castro government will use Kerry’s visit to push for the lifting of the full embargo, in place since 1962. Marco Rubio of Florida have been blasting President Barack Obama for his recent foreign policy initiatives, with Rubio telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt he would close or downgrade the embassy in Havana if he wins the election.

Cuba have said that relations will be fully restored once the embargo is lifted.