The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations and reopened their embassies.
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Conrad Tribble, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, tweeted shortly after midnight that he had phoned the State Department.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to hold talks with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez later in the day in Washington.
On the same day that the USA and Cuba officially restored full diplomatic relations, the top diplomats from each nation acknowledged that there is still a lot of work ahead.
The Cuban flag was also raised in the lobby of the US State Department, where it joined those of other countries that have ties with the US. Among them: thorny disputes such as over mutual claims for economic reparations, Havana’s insistence on the end of the 53-year-old trade embargo and US calls for Cuba to improve on human rights and democracy. A Cuban citizen who arrived in the U.S.in 1960, he said he and others like him will not be able to visit Cuba despite normalize relations because the government there still considers him a traitor.
This started the conflict between two counties, strain Cuba-US relations.
According to The Associated Press, Rodriguez blasted the USA for its “excess craving for domination”, praised the “wise leadership of Fidel Castro”, whose “ideas we’ll always revere”, and demanded the return of Guantanamo Bay.
With regard to the economic embargo, Kerry recalled that only Congress may lift it and said he was confident that as the bilateral relationship develops “in these next weeks and months and years – and hopefully not too many years” – those who oppose lifting the embargo will cease to do so.
Roger Noriega, an American Enterprise Institute analyst and a former USA ambassador to the Organization of American States, also expressing concern about Cuba’s human rights record, said “I think we have had to lower our standards in order to raise our flag in Havana”.
The Cuban national flag is seen raised over their new embassy in Washington, July 20, 2015.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry hailed the reestablishment of regular diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana on Monday, but stressed “the process of fully normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba will be long and complex”.
The United States “should respect other countries’ sovereignty”, Gonzalez said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez presided over the reinauguration of the embassy, a milestone in the diplomatic thaw that began with a breakthrough announcement by USA president Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on December 17th.
By contrast, only 39 percent approve of his handling of the US role in world affairs.
The White House said Wednesday that a decision by President Obama to visit Cuba would not necessarily depend on the Castro regime providing more human rights protections and basic freedoms, but did say progress on those fronts would factor into his plans.
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Despite the re-establishing of ties, there are still issues between the countries that need to resolved.
