John Kerry, the first secretary of state to visit Cuba since 1945, told guests at the reopened American embassy in Havana Friday that the two nations’ leaders “made a courageous decision to stop being prisoners of history”.
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Cuban television has switched from cartoons to live coverage of the U.S. embassy flag-raising, broadcasting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s arrival at Havana’s Jose Marti airport followed by a detailed biography of Kerry’s career. But it underscores the long-standing tensions at play as Washington and Havana work to thaw the decadeslong chill in relations.
Tracy – who served in the Marines Corps for 30 years – was a master gunnery sergeant entrusted with lowering the flag at the embassy in Havana when the US severed relations with Cuba on January 4, 1961. In Cuba the restoration of relations has been hugely popular despite decades of Cold War-era mistrust. Kerry was scheduled to meet with them, along with an array of Cubans from entrepreneurs to artists, later in his 10-hour visit. Political change remains a taboo topic in Cuba despite a series of economic reforms and the reestablishment of diplomatic ties with the U.S. under President Raul Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel.
He noted that the Cuban constitution “recognizes freedom of speech and association”.
“The policies of the past have not led to a democratic transition here in Cuba”.
Already, American businesses and interests have started engaging more in Cuba, CBS News Senior National Security Analyst Juan Zarate said Thursday.
All three armed service members have fond memories of their time on the island – as brief as it was – and the Cuban people.
Kerry plans to meet with dissidents later Friday at the ambassador’s residence because the U.S. believed having such a meeting be the first official act of the new embassy would anger the Cuban government. While Cuba has increased its highly limited Internet access since December. 17 in a measure U.S. officials partially attribute to the warming with Washington, ordinary Cubans are growing increasingly impatient for concrete results from the new relationship.
“We will talk very directly about a sort of road map toward real, full normalization”, Kerry said.
“You know, I have to say that intellectually I can wrap my head around him a little bit, but in the end, I think out of respect for my parents and my community I may have to decline that handshake”, the poet told Ramos. “They don’t’ have to wait for Congress”.
“More people will travel”.
In an interview with Telemundo earlier this week, Kerry said that Cuba’s political dissidents will not be invited to the official embassy opening. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican presidential candidate, as a capitulation to the communist Castro regime.
He says “Cuba’s future is for Cubans to shape”. “We are making exceptions to the embargo but still keeping the premise of it”.
The United States is also looking for the Cuban government to take steps to improve the relationship.
“The Americans also want to resolve billions of dollars in half-century-old American claims over property confiscated after the Cuban revolution”.
In addition, the U.S. wants to increase existing, albeit modest, cooperation between Washington and Havana on areas such as counternarcotics, migration, environment and global health.
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“We should move forward, lift the embargo, and open up commerce with a market of 11 million people just 90 miles from our shores, ” Sen.
