Cuba and US Open Embassies

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 20 2015 – Cuba’s blue, red and white-starred flag is set to fly outside the country’s diplomatic mission in the United States for the first time since the countries severed ties in 1961.

While no formal ceremony is planned Monday for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, it too will become a full-fledged embassy as the Cold War foes formally enter a new era of engagement despite what remains a deep ideological gulf.

Cuba plans a solemn morning ceremony at its stately mission in Washington with some 500 guests, including a 30-member delegation of diplomatic, cultural and other leaders from the Caribbean nation, headed by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

The U.S. government will be represented by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, who led U.S. negotiators in six months of talks leading to the July 1 announcement that embassies would reopen, and Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the U.S. Interests Section chief in Havana who will now become charge d’affaires.

Rodriguez is scheduled to meet later in the day with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Officials say the U.S. Interests Section in Havana will not immediately raise the stars and stripes, instead waiting for a formal ceremony expected to be presided over by Kerry in August.