Diplomatic ties were cut off in 1961 by then-President Eisenhower, three years after Fidel Castro came to power and Cuba became a communist country.
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Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., a member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, has also raised concerns about lifting restrictions on a government that he does not think is moving toward greater freedom for its people.
In its budget request last February, the Obama administration asked Congress for $6 million in 2016 for the U.S. mission in Havana to “expand its presence and transition to embassy status to handle more extensive operations”. The administration had reason to take Cuba off the list of terrorist nations in May.
Isolating Cuba had been a foreign policy pillar under 10 USA presidents, continuing long after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
” “Nobody expects Cuba to be transformed overnight”, he said”.
The delegation will include “prominent representatives of Cuban society”, the government said in a statement.
“Isolation has not worked”, Obama said. He still has no strategy to defeat ISIS, yet somehow he finds time to open an embassy in Havana and plan an official state visit there.
President Obama announced Wednesday that the US and Cuba have reached an agreement to open embassies in Havana and Washington, marking a major step in ending hostilities between the longtime foes. American colleges and universities that want to partner with Cuba.
Obama also called on Wednesday for the Congress to lift the embargo that prevents Cubans from travelling or doing business in Cuba.
In Vienna, Kerry acknowledged the “sharp differences” between the two sides on democracy and human rights, but also highlighted areas of cooperation such as transportation and environmental protection.
By April of that year, Kennedy would authorise the US-organised invasion of Cuba by a force of Cuban exiles.
The United States’ top diplomat in Cuba, USA Interests Section chief Jeffrey DeLaurentis, delivered a letter from the White House to the Cuban government about the renewed embassies.
The State Department defines an embassy as “the nerve center for a country’s diplomatic affairs within the borders of another nation”. “Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Roger Noriega, said in a statement, I certainly hope that the president hasn’t lowered our standards in defense of democracy in order to raise the flag in Havana, he wasn’t particularly candid with the American people in explaining what’s at stake, and explaining how unsafe that Cuban government continues to be today”. In May, Cuba announced that its banking services for that office had been restored, a pre-condition to reopening a full embassy.
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Cuban journalist Cristina Escobar from Havana.
