Instead, Kerry intends to meet more quietly with prominent activists later in the day, officials said.
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The Obama administration doesn’t plan to invite Cuban dissidents to Secretary of State John Kerry’s historic flag-raising at the U.S. Embassy in Havana on Friday, vividly illustrating how U.S. policy is shifting focus from the island’s opposition to its single-party government. Previously, they were limited to the Havana area.
The US embassy in Havana began operating as such on July 20, but has postponed any celebration until the arrival of Kerry, who will lead a ceremony where the US flag at the mission for the first time in 56 years will be raised.
Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate, urged Kerry to “at least use the opportunity of your upcoming August 14th trip to Havana to demand the freedom and rights of the Cuban people”.
Rubio added that refusing to meet with the Cuban dissidents would be an “unforgivable betrayal of America’s moral leadership in the world”.
State Department’s spokesman John Kirby in said that the U.S. would continue to advocate for human rights in Cuba and demand basic freedoms.
About 90 Cuban dissidents were briefly arrested on Sunday for demonstrating with masks bearing the image of President Barack Obama in response to the reopening of the embassy of the United States on the communist island, according to Agence-France Presse.
Some activists have reacted angrily at the US decision to normalize relations with Cuba, which was announced in December by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro.
All were released after about four and a half hours in custody, the dissident group said.
He (Obama) is responsible for what happens, the Cuban government is emboldened by negotiations with Washington, said Angel Moya, the husband of the leader of the Ladies in White, to activists in the square outside the church, a few minutes before being arrested.
With relations strengthening between the U.S. and Cuba, many are dissatisfied with the lack of democratic reform and are taking to the streets in protest.
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Opponents of the rapprochement may have been legally unable to stop the president from re-launching diplomatic relations and reopening the embassy, but they do have some leverage. Rubio and others also insist they’ll do everything they can to block the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to Cuba.
