The two countries reached a new milestone in the historic thaw that began with a breakthrough announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on Dec. 17,2014
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday morning will preside over the raising of the Cuban flag for the first time in 54 years over a mansion that will again serve as Havana’s embassy in Washington.
The symbolic event will be followed by a meeting at the State Department between Secretary of State John Kerry and Rodriguez, the first Cuban foreign minister on an official visit to Washington since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
While the Cubans hold their ceremony, the U.S. Embassy in Havana will also reopen. But no American flag will fly there until a visit by Kerry, which is expected next month. “We wanted the secretary to be there to oversee these important events,” a State Department official said.
The re-establishment of embassies,agreed to on July 01,2015, opens a new chapter of engagement by easing government contacts heavily constrained since the United States broke off relations in 1961.
While the opening of embassies marks a major milestone in the thaw between the U.S. and Cuba, significant issues remain. Among them: talks on human rights, demands for compensation for confiscated U.S. properties in Havana and damages to Cuba from the embargo and possible cooperation on law enforcement, including the touchy topic of US Fugitives Sheltering in Havana and restoration claims by Americans who lost at total of $1.9 billion in property they owned in Cuba.
Note
Relations had been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo on Cuba.
Since 1977, the US and Cuba have operated diplomatic missions called "interests sections" in each other's capitals under the legal protection of Switzerland. However, they do not enjoy the same status as full embassies.
The two countries agreed to normalise relations at the end of 2014 and historic talks followed in April this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment