Kerry says Cuba best served by ‘genuine democracy’ as US flag raised

Three marines who lowered the flag at the U.S. Embassy in Havana when the United States and Cuba broke off diplomatic relations in 1961 were on hand to see the Stars and Stripes raised once again.

Cuban dissidents were not allowed to attend the ceremonial opening of the U.S. embassy in Havana, although Kerry was scheduled to meet with a handful of them later.

“We remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas, practice their faith”.

“This is truly a memorable occasion – a day for pushing aside old barriers and exploring new possibilities”, Kerry said in his remarks just before the flag was raised, a symbolic capstone on Washington’s historic rapprochement with Havana after 54 years of animosity. Kerry is the highest ranking official to visit Cuba since the Eisenhower Administration severed diplomatic ties at the height of the Cold War. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who is Cuban American and a GOP presidential hopeful said in a speech at the Foreign Policy Initiative in New York City on Friday.

Kerry, speaking before assembled dignitaries, remembered the strained history of U.S.-Cuba relations, including the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union was discovered to be siting nuclear rockets on the island-nation. He did not mention anything about reopening the U.S. embassy in Havana.

And Americans are far more likely to believe there will not be any great change as far as democracy in Cuba is concerned. Roughly three-quarters in the U.S. (72%) and in Latin America (median of 76%) favor ending the embargo.

“Larry, Mike and Jim had done their jobs, but they also made a bold promise – that one day they would return to Havana and raise the flag again”, Kerry said.

Fidel Castro led Cuba from 1959, when he launched a revolution, until 2006, when health problems forced him to pass on power to his younger brother Raul.

“The fact that the dissidents haven’t been invited it upsets me and the fact that the Cuban exile community was not counted with this was done behind our back so it really, really upsets me”, said Hector Schwerdt. In an article released on his 89th birthday Castro said the US owes millions of dollars of compensation to Cuba for the years of embargo.

While the US has eased some travel and trade restrictions, the Republican-controlled Congress refuses to budge on lifting a wider economic embargo.