Kerry said the restoration of diplomatic ties will make it easier for the two governments to engage but acknowledged that it would be unrealistic to expect normalizing relations to have a transformational impact in the short term.
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In comments published on a U.S. State Department blog post, East recalled the moment in 1961 when Washington and Havana broke off diplomatic relations at the height of Cold War tensions.
“Raising the American flag outside the U.S. Embassy in Cuba represents a new era of relations between our two countries, and it was an honor to see it firsthand”, Klobuchar said in a statement. “We’re going to talk over getting back to Cuba and putting a flag back up together”. Marco Rubio and 2016 presidential contender Jeb Bush spoke up against restoring diplomatic ties with the Caribbean nation Friday.
“The road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the U.S. and Cuba have been traveling is not the right one”, Kerry said in remarks during the flag-raising ceremony.
The three had done their job, Kerry said, “but they also made a bold promise that one day they would return to Havana and raise the flag again”.
The US wants to resolve claims over property confiscated by the Cuban government after the 1959 revolution, which amount to billions of dollars.
Washington’s top diplomat came to Havana on Friday to raise the Stars and Stripes over the newly opened embassy, making a symbolically charged victory lap for the Obama administration’s new policy of engagement with Cuba.
US Secretary of State also advocated that both sides eliminate existing restrictions to advance further on the path of normalization and predicted that there will be further work. And as he acknowledged at the ceremony this morning, neither country has “any illusions about how hard our new relationship will be”.
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“There will be hiccups along the way but it’s a start”, Kerry said of the nascent US-Cuban thaw, speaking to reporters traveling with him. As the flag was raised, there were loud cheers and applause from the crowd of U.S. and Cuban dignitaries and longtime proponents of U.S.-Cuban engagement, and from people watching from neighboring balconies.
