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

The new era started with little fanfare as the agreement between the two countries to resume full relations July 20 entered into force early Monday morning.

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.

Workers at the US Department of State add the Cuban flag to the display of flags inside the main entrance at 202 “C” Street in Washington, DC.

Cuba and the United States will have embassies in Washington and Havana respectively for the first time in more than five decades.

Rodriguez is scheduled to head the ceremony of the reopening of the Cuban embassy this Monday in the USA capital. As for American diplomats in Cuba, state department officials say they will now have more freedom to travel throughout the island. “It didn’t exist in January 1961”.

Already frayed ties between Washington and Havana snapped in 1961 when Cuban leader Fidel Castro threatened to expel American diplomats for meddling in Cuban affairs.

The official also said Cubans would have increased access to the US embassy in Havana.

In Havana, the U.S. mission will begin operating Monday as an embassy, but a formal flag-raising will only take place later this summer during a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry.

But both nations have cautioned that this is only a beginning, warning overcoming decades of enmity is not easy.

Still, the US trade embargo against Cuba remains in place, a situation which the Castro regime has warned will continue to be a barrier against full normalization of relations between the two countries.

The longstanding ideological differences between the two countries seemed to prevent diplomatic relations resuming sooner.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuba’s President Raul Castro during a meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas at the ATLAPA Convention center on April 11, 2015, in Panama City.

In the lead-up to plans to restore ties, the State Department removed Cuba from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

“It’s a historic moment”, said longtime Cuban diplomat and analyst Carlos Alzugaray. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be conflicts – there are bound to be conflicts – but the way that you treat the conflict has completely changed”.

The last time the USA and Cuba had embassies in each others respective countries, no Super Bowl had ever been played, and the Miami Dolphins football team didn’t even exist. Eighty-one percent of Americans support allowing all Americans to travel to Cuba – including large majorities of Republicans (71 percent), Democrats (90 percent), and independents (80 percent).

The Monitor reported in March that the ailing Venezuelan economy – Cuba’s biggest benefactor since the dissolution of the Soviet Union – was making normal relations with America look a lot more palatable.