U.S., Cuba Restore Full Diplomatic Ties After 5 Decades

The scholar can be among the many 30 Cuban residents invited to the embassy opening ceremony on Monday.

In Monday’s pre-dawn hours, the Cuban flag will be hung quietly in the lobby of the State Department alongside those of other nations with which the USA has diplomatic relations.

The flag was also set to be raised at Havana’s diplomatic mission in Washington – upgraded to an embassy as diplomatic ties formally resumed after the stroke of midnight – for the first time since 1961.

Though normalization has taken center stage in the U.S.-Cuba relationship, there remains a deep ideological gulf between the nations and many issues still to resolve.

Some lawmakers in the US, including a number of prominent president candidates from the Republican Party, have said they would not repeal the trade embargo and made pledges to rollback the moves made by President Obama with Cuba.

The mansion was built in 1916 during the government of then Cuban President Mario Garcia Menocal (1913-21) to serve as the Legation of the Republic of Cuba, a type of diplomatic mission headed by a lower ranking representative than an ambassador.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the USA and Cuba continue to have discussions on a wide range of issues.

Presidents Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro exchanged letters last month agreeing to unfreeze ties on July 20, when the embassies could be reopened.

But even as we accept that a total change of heart in America will be hard, we can not ignore the reality of the correctness of President Obama’s push to change USA policy on Cuba.

The United States interests section in Havana will also be upgraded to a full embassy, but with little fanfare as diplomats there await the arrival of Kerry, who is due to officially hoist the American Stars and Stripes over the building in the coming weeks.

Diplomatic relations were interrupted by Washington as part of its hostile actions against the revolutionary process in Cuba which began January 1, 1959, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina said.

Carlos Alzugaray, a longtime Cuban diplomat and analyst, told the Associated Press that while the change in relations this morning is a “historic” moment, “there are bound to be conflicts”.

Despite the historic shift, both sides admit to lingering difficulties.

A Cuban delegation of diplomats, artists and veterans of the revolution were to commemorate the breakthrough with about 500 guests and more than likely down a few celebratory mojitos and shots of Havana Club rum.

The U.S. contingent for the ceremony will be led by Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson, who led the US-Cuba talks. What for years was a lonely flagpole outside the glassy six-story edifice on Havana’s seafront Malecon boulevard recently got a rehab, complete with a paved walkway.