Protocol keeps dissidents from Havana flag-raising, John Kerry says

Richard Blanco, a gay Cuban American poet who took part in President Obama’s second inauguration, on August 14, 2015, will read a poem at the ceremony that will mark the official reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba.

While Kerry will be at the event, the Cuban leader Raul Castro and his brother Fidel will not be there. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other opponents of the normalization of relations between Washington and the Communist island have criticized the decision not to invite critics of the Cuban government to Friday’s ceremony. As the two countries have moved to restore relations, Cuba has nearly entirely stopped meeting with American politicians who visit dissidents during trips to Havana.

Kerry will be accompanied to Havana by a number of U.S. officials, including Senators Patrick Leahy, Amy Klobuchar and Jeff Flake, all advocates of normalizing diplomatic and economic relations with Cuba.

“This is a new low for President Obama and a slap in the face by this administration to Cuba’s courageous democracy activists”, Rubio said in a statement.

Kerry will preside over two flag-raising events, the first at the embassy in the morning, then a second just before a late-afternoon reception at the home of the U.S. chief of mission in Havana’s Cubanacan neighborhood.

“The secretary plans obviously to meet with a broad range of civil society throughout the day”, the official said, declining to name any dissidents who Kerry will meet. Lifting the embargo against Cuba requires an act of Congress, something President Obama called for in January during his State of the Union address.

“If we’re going to have an opening, to begin to pressure the Cuban government on those political issues – and I think we’ve been a bit timid on that, I think, is my opinion, to date – but I think that becomes the second phase of this engagement”, Zarate said.

He did not cite a specific sum, though Cuba last year put the cost of the US embargo at $1.1 trillion (£710bn).

In 1961, as the US closed its embassy in Cuba, three Marines solemnly lowered the American flag.

At the time, Schultz told them, “We are with you”.

“Colonial Systems of The World”, one of that month’s features, summarized the colonial policies of Great Britain and questioned how the U.S. could best open its domestic markets to its new territories-Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Hawaii. The Cuban government is demanding compensation for the embargo, as well as for assets frozen in American banks after the revolution. It argues that dealing instantly with Cuba over points starting from human rights to commerce is way likelier to supply democratic and free-market reforms over the long run. You could, if you truly believe in the principles of what our founding fathers said in Philadelphia more than 200 years ago, demand to see the Cuban dissidents.

With tense bilateral ties recently renewed after five decades, and top US diplomat John Kerry due in Havana in days, Cuba briefly detained about 90 activists.