Currently, US diplomats can’t travel outside Havana without getting permission.
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The Episcopal Church welcomed The lifting of USA sanctions against Cuba during the faith’s convention, a few days before President Obama announced America would open an embassy in Havana.
KELEMEN: “There cannot be normal relations between Cuba and the United States as long as the economic blockade remains in place”, the announcer says. It also put Cuba on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The two countries have agreed to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana.
He didn’t announce a date, but the Cuban government said in Havana the two countries will reopen their embassies later this month on July 20.
“Fidel is more set in his ways than Raul is”. It will mean the USA will be able to “substantially increase our contacts with the Cuban people”. He’s calling it an “historic step”.
The U.S.is particularly concerned about Cuba’s human rights violations.
The Cuba deal comes as the U.S.is pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran. And until true change occurs in Cuba, Congress can refuse to lift the embargo as the president requested.
Johnson City business owner Eduardo Zayas-Bazan, whose father was born in Cuba, was in the country visiting family just past year.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also a Republican presidential candidate, criticized Obama for “further legitimizing the brutal Castro regime”. Ted Cruz quickly tweeted his disapproval of the decision.
Obama has argued the decades-old policy of isolating the Communist-run island has failed and is a relic of a long-gone era.
“We don’t have to be imprisoned by the past”, the President said. Eisenhower.
The embassy agreement marks the biggest tangible step toward normalizing relations since the surprise announcement in December that the US and Cuba were restarting diplomatic ties. The opening of embassies will be a very powerful and dramatic moment. I believe it’s time for Congress to do the same.
Meanwhile, the possibility of reestablishing relations with Cuba holds enormous potential for American companies as well as the possibility of more liberties for the Cuban people.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking from Vienna, said he would visit Havana later this summer to raise the United States flag outside the United States embassy, now labelled the US interests section under the protection of the Swiss government.
The White House has faced significant objections over reopening diplomatic relations with Cuba from Republicans in Congress.
A senior Obama administration official confirmed the embassy planning. The missions are technically under the protection of Switzerland, and do not enjoy the same status as full embassies.
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But the doddering dictators won’t live forever, and the more the Cuban people interact with Americans, the more likely they are to recognize the Castros’ lies.
