US Secretary of State John Kerry(C), stands with other dignitaries as members of the US Marines raise the US flag over the newly reopened embassy in Havana, Cuba on August 14, 2015. Kerry is at the Cuban capital to raise the US flag and formally reopen the long-closed US Embassy. Cuba and the US officially restored diplomatic relations July 20, as part of efforts to normalize ties between the former Cold War foes. PHOTO: AFP
Three retired Marines who last lowered the flag in 1961 participated in the ceremony, handing a new flag to the Marine Color Guard, which raised the flag on the grounds outside the embassy building on the Havana seafront.
The ceremony, raising the flag over the building for the first time in 54 years, came nearly four weeks after the United States and Cuba formally renewed diplomatic relations and upgraded their diplomatic missions to embassies.
A vintage car passes by a podium with the seal of the US Embassy in Havana where the Embassy opening and flag raising ceremony will take place on August 14, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERSWhile the Cubans celebrated with a flag-raising in Washington on July 20, the Americans waited until Kerry travelled to Havana.
Kerry, the first US secretary of state to visit Cuba in 70 years, was accompanied by aides, members of Congress and the US Marines. Washington severed diplomatic ties with Havana as relations soured soon after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
The seven-story seafront building in Havana and Cuba's mansion in Washington were closed from 1961 until 1977, when they reopened as interests sections.
Seeking to end the long hostilities, Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama announced last December they would restore diplomatic ties, reopen embassies and work to normalize relations.
US and Cuban flags are seen at the entrance of the US Embassy in Havana, August 13, 2015. PHOTO: REUTERSObama has also used executive power to relax some US travel and trade restrictions, but the Republican-controlled Congress has resisted his call to end America's wider economic embargo.
The Obama administration says Washington's long policy of trying to force change in Communist-governed Cuba through isolation did not work. Kerry told Univision television ahead of his trip he hoped to see a "transformation" begin to take place.
"More people will travel. There will be more exchange. More families will be reconnected. And hopefully, the government of Cuba will itself make decisions that will begin to change things."
Kerry will meet Cuban dissidents at the US embassy residence in Havana on Friday afternoon. Dissidents were not invited to the morning flag-raising in deference to the Cuban government, which sees dissidents as US-sponsored mercenaries.
Restored diplomatic ties mean US diplomats can travel more freely and increase staff. Cuba has also reduced the number of security guards who keep an eye on Cubans going in and out.
The task of normalising overall relations is more complicated.
Cuba wants the United States to end the embargo, return the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba, and halt radio and television signals beamed into Cuba.
The Americans will press Cuba on human rights, the return of fugitives granted asylum and the claims of Americans whose property was nationalized after Fidel Castro came to power.
Watch the raising of the American flag for the first time in 54 years at @USEmbCuba. #USCuba http://t.co/C8o34I0Z6w
— Department of State (@StateDept) August 14, 2015
Pleased to be in #Havana for historic day @USEmbCuba. Incredible: last time #SecState visited #Cuba, FDR was @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/URedAaDpZs
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) August 14, 2015
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