President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, announced that US and Cuba have agreed to open embassies in each other's capitals.
(AP)
The historic turnaround between two bitter foes has come about at breakneck pace in just a matter of months. (AP)
Cuba and the United States formally renewed diplomatic ties Monday, as embassies reopened in their respective capitals, a powerful move toward burying decades of enmity between the Cold War foes.
A foreign policy legacy for President Barack Obama, the historic turnaround between two bitter foes has come about at breakneck pace, in just a matter of months since the two sides agreed to bury the hatchet and work together as equals.
The shift came after Washington acknowledged that its policy of trying to affect change in tightly controlled communist Cuba through isolation and trade restrictions had failed, and that engaging Havana directly was a better way to nudge it towards democracy and prosperity.
For the first time since 1961, the Cuban flag will fly over Havana's newly upgraded embassy in Washington, just a stone's throw from the White House.
The standard with a white star inside a red triangle against white and blue stripes will also take its place among a row of flags from around the world adorning the State Department's imposing marble entrance in the US capital.In yet another historic gesture, US Secretary of State John Kerry will formally receive his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez for talks Monday, before holding a joint press conference around 1:45 pm (1745 GMT).
Earlier, Rodriguez will preside over a ceremony to mark the upgrading of the Cuban interests section to a full embassy.
The rapprochement was announced on December 17, as Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro agreed to end their countries' estrangement and put them on track towards a full normalization of ties.
After a series of negotiations in Havana and Washington, the restoration of diplomatic relations has come about just seven months later.
But both nations have cautioned that this is only a beginning, warning that overcoming decades of very bad blood is not easy.
There are "issues that we don't see eye-to-eye on," State Department spokesman John Kirby admitted Friday.
The United States "wants to move beyond a Cold War-era approach to one of constructive engagement as a way to support and empower the Cuban people," analyst Ted Piccone from the Brookings Institution told AFP.
"Cuba needs the United States as an economic engine for its troubled economy and hopes to attract new foreign investment and human capital to update its socialist model, but without undergoing political reform."
"Building confidence and trust will be critical to the ability to move forward," he added.
One of the biggest areas of contention remains human rights, with Washington pressing for an improvement in freedoms of expression, religion and the press in the Caribbean island nation.
Some Republicans have been sharply critical of what they see as US haste to cozy up with Cuba.
Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, vowed to end diplomatic ties with an "anti-American communist tyranny."
"This recognition somehow sends a message to dissidents and others around the world that the United States accepts the Cuban form of government today as a legitimate form of government," he told CNN's "State of the Union."
Another tough issue is compensation for American property seized after the 1959 Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro. Some 5,911 lawsuits have been opened in the United States with an estimated value of $7 billion to $8 billion.
On Havana's side, Raul Castro has urged Obama to use his executive powers to "dismantle" the economic embargo in place since 1960, calling it the main stumbling block toward normalization between the two nations.
Washington also wants to ensure the return of several American fugitives wanted in the United States.
Top of the list is a former member of the violent Black Panther revolutionary group, Joanne Chesimard, wanted for the killing of a New Jersey policeman in 1973 and who has been hiding in Cuba since 1984.
The US 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.
Tough negotiations eased one stumbling block, top US diplomat for Latin America Roberta Jacobson said, after insisting that American diplomats be allowed to operate freely across Cuba.
"The security presence outside the intersection has already been reduced... such that we hope people will not feel nearly the same kind of presence or threat," she told lawmakers.
And while American diplomats would still have to provide notification of their travel, they will no longer have to seek permission.
Timeline of key events in U.S.-Cuba relations:
- THE START: Fidel Castro's rebels take power as dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba on Jan 1, 1959. The United States soon recognizes the new government. But relations begin to sour as Americans criticize summary trials and executions of Batista loyalists. In 1960 Cuba nationalizes US-owned oil refineries after they refuse to process Soviet oil. Nearly all other US businesses are expropriated soon afterward.
- STANDOFF: The US declares an embargo on most exports to Cuba in October 1960 and breaks diplomatic relations in January 1961. Three months later Castro declares Cuba a socialist state - just a day before the doomed US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion meant to topple Castro. Meanwhile, US agents are organizing repeated efforts to assassinate the Cuban leader.
- SHOWDOWN AVERTED: In October 1962, a US blockade forces removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba after a standoff brings the world near nuclear war. US President John F. Kennedy agrees privately not to invade Cuba.
- FAILED NORMALIZATION: US President Jimmy Carter tries to normalize relations with Cuba shortly after taking office in 1977, re-establishing diplomatic missions and negotiating the release of thousands of prisoners. But conflicts over Cuba's military mission in Africa, tension caused by a flood of Cuban refugees in 1980 and the election of Ronald Reagan end the rapprochement.
- CUBA ALONE: The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union devastates the Cuban economy, but the country limps along, first under Fidel and then, after he falls ill in 2006, under his brother Raul, head of the Cuban military.
- EXILE CLASHES: Cuba's hostile relations with many Florida-based migrants repeatedly lead to confrontation. In 1996, Cuban jets shoot down two planes operated by the Brothers to the Rescue group dedicated to saving migrants found at sea, killing four. In 1999, U.S.-based relatives fight to keep Elian Gonzalez, rescued at sea at age 5 after his mother dies. US officials finally wrench him away and send him back to his father in Cuba in 2000.
- PRISONERS: The US arrests five Cuban spies in 1998 and Cuba mounts an international campaign to free them, saying they were defending the island against US-based terror attempts. In December 2009, Cuba arrests USAID contractor Alan Gross, accusing him of subversion. That stifles incipient efforts to improve US-Cuba ties under President Barack Obama.
- BREAKTHROUGH: Obama and Raul Castro announce Dec. 17, 2014 they are restoring diplomatic ties and exchanging prisoners, including Gross and the remaining three members of the Cuban Five spy ring.
- REMOVAL FROM TERRORISM LIST: The Obama administration formally removes Cuba from a US terrorism blacklist as part of the process of normalizing relations between the Cold War foes.
- AGREEMENT NOTES EXCHANGED: Pending issues are resolved and the US and Cuba exchange diplomatic notes agreeing that the date for the restoration of full relations will be July 20.
-DIPLOMATIC TIES RESTORED: Agreement between the two nations to resume normal ties on July 20 comes into force just after midnight Sunday and the diplomatic missions of each country are upgraded from interests sections to embassies.
/KT
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