At midnight July 20, the US and Cuba resumed diplomatic relations after 54 years of broken ties.
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“Just made first phone call to State Dept. Ops Center from United States Embassy Havana ever”, he tweeted.
In a further sign of a desire to move past decades of enmity, Kerry and Rodriguez, the first Cuban foreign minister on an official visit to Washington since the Cuban Revolution, were due to meet at the state department and then hold a news conference later.
Despite the historic events, there remain issues that continue to vex the U.S.-Cuba relationship.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the new diplomatic ties were “yet another demonstration that we don’t have to be imprisoned by the past”.
Rodriguez called for the U.S.to lift its economic blockade against his country, “as well as the return of the illegally territory of Guantanamo as well as the full respect for the Cuban sovereignty as well as the compensation to our people for human and economic damages”.
“We look forward to collaborating with the Cuban government on issues of common interest, including counterterrorism and disaster response”.
Restoring ties “begins a new stage, long and complex, on the way to the normalisation of relations, which will require the willingness to find solutions to problems that have accumulated over five decades”, Cuban president Raul Castro said in Havana last week.
He said the Cuban flag that hung outside the Washington embassy when it closed in 1961 will now be displayed inside. “It didn’t exist in Jan 1961”. Rodriguez was the first Cuban foreign minister to set foot in the State Department since 1958.
Rodriguez attended the flag-raising ceremony at the Cuban embassy on 16th Street NW.
Klobuchar, a Democrat, has been a staunch supporter of normalizing U.S.-Cuban relations and since President Barack Obama announced steps in that direction past year, she has advocated opening an embassy.
In truth, both countries had for years already been running robust interest sections in both capitals.
Even so, Rodriguez’s words do provide Secretary of State John Kerry an excuse to deliver some equally stern words regarding Cuba’s deplorable record on human rights and freedom of conscience when he presides over a flag-raising ceremony at the USA embassy in Havana on August 14.
USA charge d’affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis will stay in post in Havana until a new ambassador is confirmed, with his Cuban counterpart Jose Cabanas also staying in place in Washington. He added the usa and Cuba had agreed to have conversations about fugitives and law enforcement.
Zimbabwean political commentator, Charles Mangongera, said the development is significant, not only for the people of Cuba but citizens of countries like Zimbabwe that do not enjoy cordial relations with the United States and the West.
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This started the conflict between two counties, strain Cuba-US relations.
