Kerry reopens US Cuba embassy after 54 years

“Responsibility for the nature and quality of governance and accountability rests, as it should, not with any outside entity; but exclusively within the citizens of this country”, he said. But negotiations on other issues will be “contentious and slow”, he said.

“In the United States, that means recognizing that U.S. policy is not the anvil on which Cuba’s future will be forged”, he added.

After touching down at Jose Marti worldwide Airport, Kerry headed for the embassy, where he was due to preside over the flag-raising ceremony later Friday morning.

And indeed we remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas, practice their faith with commitment, economic and social justice.

By not mentioning about the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Cuba, he may have indicated his lack of interest in normalising relations with the United States.

Across the country, it seemed as if virtually all of Cuba was glued to a television or listening to a live radio broadcast.

“I’m optimistic but cautious”, said Rolando Mendez, a state worker walking outside the embassy.

“It is a cruel insult to the freedom loving people of Cuba and it is a unsafe situation for U.S. national security”, Ros-Lehtinen said at a Wednesday news conference in Miami. The U.S. was pulling out of Cuba in response to worsening relations with the Castro government.

Three marines who first lowered the embassy’s flag in 1961 were present in a symbolic gesture as the flag was raised once again. Most of the U.S. staff departed quickly, but a few stayed behind to hand the keys to our Swiss colleagues, who would serve diligently and honorably as our protecting power for more than 50 years, and to whom we will always be grateful.

On Friday Kerry acknowledged that while the raising of the flag was historic, the road to diplomatic harmony between the U.S. and Cuba has just begun.

Kerry will meet Cuban dissidents at the U.S. embassy residence in Havana later on Friday.

Cuba reopened its embassy in Washington last month.

This is the first time in 70 years that a U.S. state secretary visited Cuba. He is also a former governor of Florida, home to the biggest Cuban emigre population.

Cuban officials are still demanding the trade embargo put in place by the U.S.be completely lifted.

With ties now restored, there are plenty of hurdles along the way to normal relations between the two neighbours.

A Pew Research Center survey released in July found that 73 percent of Americans supported re-establishing diplomatic relations, while 72 percent said they would be in favor of ending the U.S.-Cuba trade embargo.