Cuba, US reopen embassies

After five decades of hostility, the U.S. and Cuba formally re-established diplomatic ties on Monday, reopening long-shuttered embassies in each other’s capitals. 

The Cuban flag was raised at its embassy in Washington for the first time since 1961, symbolizing a major step toward President Obama’s goal of ending Cold War-era tensions with Havana. 

{mosads}A number of deep disagreements stand in the way of fully normalized relations between the U.S. and Cuba. But Monday’s move successfully capped off seven months of negotiations since Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced in December they would end a decades-long policy of isolation. 

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez led an elaborate flag-raising ceremony at the Cuban Embassy. He later participated in historic talks with Secretary of State John Kerry, the first such meeting on U.S. soil since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

“It’s a historic day, a day for removing barriers,” Kerry said at a joint press conference at the State Department. “The Cold War ended long ago, and the interests of both countries are better served by engagement than by estrangement.” 

Chants of “viva Cuba” could be heard as a three-man honor guard hoisted the flag outside the ornate embassy building. Dignitaries in attendance sang the Cuban national anthem.

But the ceremony also drew protesters outside the embassy grounds who demonstrated for and against the embassy opening, including one man soaked in fake blood. 

“I’m very disappointed in the U.S. government,” one demonstrator, Francisa Vigaud, 21, said in an interview outside the embassy in Washington. “Nothing has changed in Cuba.” 

The U.S. Embassy opened for business in Havana Monday morning without any pomp and circumstance; the flag won’t be raised there until Kerry visits for a ceremony on Aug. 14. 

Along with the recent nuclear deal with Iran, normalizing relations with Cuba is a major foreign policy achievement for Obama, who has sought to show the U.S. can use diplomacy, rather than force, to resolve differences with its longtime adversaries. 

The U.S. and Cuba have had diplomatic presences, known as interests sections, in each other’s countries since 1977.

Upgrading to an embassy will allow U.S. diplomats greater freedom of movement in Cuba and better access to Cuban civilians, something administration officials hope will help open up Cuban society. 

But the limits of Obama’s Cuba push will be tested in the coming months. Disagreements between the U.S. and Cuba were on display at Kerry and Rodríguez’s joint press conference Monday. 

Rodríguez reiterated Cuba’s long-standing demands that the U.S. lift its trade embargo and return the U.S. Naval station at Guantánamo Bay. 

“We have insisted that the total lifting of the blockade is essential to move on towards the normalization of relations, as well as the return of the illegally occupied territory of Guantanamo,” the foreign minister told reporters at the State Department.

U.S. officials have expressed deep concern about Cuba’s state control over the economy and human rights abuses by the Castro government, including crackdowns on dissidents. 

Kerry said “it’s part of our DNA as a country” to demand the Cuban government treat its citizens better. 

White House officials have indicated progress on human rights is one of the criteria being used to determine if and when Obama will visit Cuba.  

“Over the course of the last seven months, we haven’t seen nearly as much progress as we ultimately would like to see,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest conceded on Monday.

After Rodríguez demanded Guantánamo be returned to Cuba, Kerry said there are no plans to alter the lease for the military facility. 

Congress could also serve as a roadblock for Obama. 

The president has called on lawmakers to lift the embargo, but GOP leaders have indicated they won’t do so. Republican senators who oppose Obama’s Cuba policies have threatened to block any ambassadorial nominee.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a vocal critic of Obama’s Cuba policy, linked the embassy announcement with the Iran nuclear agreement, saying July 20 will be remembered as “Obama’s capitulation Monday.” 

The 2016 presidential candidate also reiterated his pledge “to block the confirmation of any ambassador to this despicable regime.”

Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the top American diplomat in Havana, will remain there in the upgraded post of chargé d’affaires. Earnest would not say Monday whether Obama will nominate a new ambassador. 

Opening the embassies could also fuel debate on the campaign trail. With the exception of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), GOP presidential candidates have roundly panned Obama’s decision to open relations with Cuba. 

“Obama’s rush to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba is wrong,” former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wrote on Twitter. “This embassy will only serve to further legitimize [a] repressive regime.” 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, has cheered the move. 

Polls show that the public is on Obama’s side when it comes to easing relations with Cuba. 

Two-thirds of Americans want the trade embargo against Cuba lifted, and 63 percent back the decision to re-
establish diplomatic ties, according to a January Pew Research Center poll. 

And the issue is no longer a clear winner for Republicans, who once drew upon strong support in Miami’s right-leaning Cuban exile community to help win the battleground state of Florida. 

Due to demographic shifts, Cubans have begun to favor the Democratic Party in recent elections. 

Sixty-eight percent of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County support re-establishing diplomatic relations, according to a Florida International University poll conducted last year. 

Hanna Krueger and Austin Yack contributed.