The United States and Cuba came to an agreement to restore diplomatic relations that were severed by Washington more than 50 years ago, as HNGN previously reported.
The agreement came into force between the two countries on July 20 shortly after midnight and the diplomatic missions of each nation were upgraded from interests sections to embassies.
Maintenance workers were to hang the Cuban national flag in the lobby of the State Department alongside flags of other countries the United States has diplomatic relations with. A ceremony for what U.S. President Obama described as a "historic step forward" will be held later on Monday at the formal inauguration of the Cuban embassy in Washington and the country's flag will fly for the first time in five decades. Secretary John Kerry and Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez will address the media at a joint press conference, according to The Associated Press.
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana is expected to make an announcement about its embassy status in a written statement on Monday, but the American flag will not fly at the mission until Kerry hoists the flag at a ceremony in August.
Cuban diplomat and analyst Carlos Alzugaray described the re-establishment of diplomatic relations as a historic moment, adding that the actual hard work starts now: resolving existing issues such as mutual claims for economic reperations, Havana's insistence on the removal of the Cuban economy-damaging trade embargo that prohibits most U.S. companies from doing business in Cuba as well as the United States' request for Cuba to improve on human rights and democracy.
"The significance of opening the embassies is that trust and respect that you can see, both sides treating the other with trust and respect," Alzugaray said. "That doesn't mean there aren't going to be conflicts - there are bound to be conflicts - but the way that you treat the conflict has completely changed," according to WJLA.
