New era in ties begins as Cuba raises flag at embassy in US
Source: AP News - excite
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cuba's blue, red and white-starred flag was hoisted Monday at the country's embassy in Washington in a symbolic move signaling the start of a new post-Cold War era in U.S.-Cuba relations.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez presided over the flag-raising ceremony hours after full diplomatic relations with the United States were restored at the stroke of midnight, when an agreement to resume normal ties on July 20 took effect. Earlier, without ceremony, the Cuban flag was hung in the lobby of the State Department alongside those of other countries with which the U.S. has diplomatic ties. U.S. and Cuban diplomats in Washington and Havana had also noted the upgrade in social media posts.
Edwardo Clark, a Cuban-American, holds an American flag and a Cuban flag as he celebrates outside the new Cuban embassy in Washington, Monday, July 20, 2015.
Several hundred people gathered on the street outside the embassy, cheering as the Cuban national anthem was played and three Cuban soldiers in dress uniforms stood at the base of the flagpole and raised the flag.
The United States and Cuba severed diplomatic relations in 1961 and since the 1970s had been represented in each other's capitals by limited service interests sections. Their conversion to embassies tolled a knell for policy approaches spawned and hardened over the five decades since President John F. Kennedy first tangled with youthful revolutionary Fidel Castro over Soviet expansion in the Americas.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150720/us--united_states-cuba-9d04350670.html
I'm old enough to remember well when diplomatic ties were broken off ~55 years ago and the flood of refugees began arriving.
Every day for the last week, employees have been hanging hand-lettered signs on the fence counting down, in Spanish, to Monday: "In 6 days we will become an embassy!" and so on."
Never thought I'd see this day...
Thanks Obama!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Published on Monday, July 20, 2015
by Common Dreams
As Cuban Flag Rises in U.S. Capital, 'Antiquated Policies' Still in Place
The 'removal of the economic, commercial and financial blockade... the return of occupied territory in Guantánamo, and respect for the sovereignty of Cuba,' must come next, said Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez
by Nadia Prupis, staff writer
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The Cuban embassy officially re-opened in Washington, D.C. on July 20 as a sign of newly restored diplomatic relations between the two countries. But there is more work to be done, say activists. (Photo: Reuters)
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The Cuban embassy on Monday officially opened in Washington, D.C., exciting the many who support restoring diplomatic relations with the Caribbean nation for the first time in 54 years.
But another raised flag in the U.S. capitol should not signify the end of the American effort to reestablish official ties with the country, Cuban officials and human rights activists said.
Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez, who visited the U.S. capital for the first time on Monday for the flag-raising ceremony, said the U.S. must now lift its comprehensive trade embargo against the Caribbean nation and return the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay to the Cuban people.
"The historic events we are living today will only make sense with the removal of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes so much deprivation and damage to our people, the return of occupied territory in Guantánamo, and respect for the sovereignty of Cuba," Rodriguez said.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/07/20/cuban-flag-rises-us-capital-antiquated-policies-still-place
Good reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016128183
But then, I usually smoke a cigar on my way into work...
However, today it tasted extra robust!
(I listened to Amy Goodman's coverage on "Democracy Now!"
