AMERICAS

U.S. and Cuba Reopen Long-Closed Embassies

By  and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
Hundreds of Cubans lined up outside the newly reopened American Embassy in Havana on Monday morning to apply for visas. Meridith Kohut for The New York Times 
HAVANA — After more than a half-century of Cold War estrangement, the United States reopened its six-story embassy in Havana on Monday, and Cuba raised a flag outside its own stately embassy in Washington.
The resumption of diplomatic relations between the two nations — a historic milestone in the official thaw that President Obama set in motion last year — was the culmination of months of negotiations to overcome decades of enmity.
But the promise of restoring full ties remained remote. Even as top American and Cuban diplomats held a meeting at the State Department for the first time in decades, Cuba’s foreign minister railed against the United States’ travel restrictions, trade embargo and presence at the military base at Guantánamo Bay.
The Cuban official, Bruno Rodríguez, said those policies must end before the two countries could bring their grudge to a close, and lend “some meaning to the historic event that we are witnessing.”
“The challenge is huge,” Mr. Rodríguez said at the embassy in Washington, where he lifted the same flag that had flown over the three-story brick and stone building when ties were abruptly severed in 1961.
 
NEWS CLIPS By Reuters 1:42
Kerry on Diplomatic Relations With Cuba

Kerry on Diplomatic Relations With Cuba

Secretary of State John Kerry held a news conference with Cuba’s foreign minister, signifying the re-establishment of relations between the countries.
 By Reuters on  July 20, 2015. Photo by Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency. Watch in Times Video »
Mr. Rodríguez invoked the “nefarious consequences” of the Platt Amendment, a series of conditions written into the Cuban Constitution that gave the United States sway over Cuban affairs and the right to establish military bases there.
Many questions in the rapprochement between Washington and Havana have yet to be answered, including: Will the trade embargo, which has crippled Cuba’s economy, be lifted, and if so, when? Will the Cuban government improve its human rights record and incorporate outsiders into the political spectrum? How much, and how fast, will the lives of ordinary Cubans, who earn $20 a month on average, improve?
But for now, the reopening of the embassy on the Malecón waterfront in Havana, previously used as an interests section — a limited diplomatic outpost — brought another reason for hope among many Cubans that the country is changing, albeit slowly.
Tourists on a bus tour in Havana. More than two years of effort went into restoring relations between the United States and Cuba. Meridith Kohut for The New York Times 
“The genie is out of the bottle,” said Carlos Alzugaray Treto, a former Cuban diplomat who is close to President Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel, the country’s longtime president. “And once it’s out, you’re not going to be able to put it back in.”
In Havana, a line had already formed at 6 a.m. along the side of the embassy. Families clutched sheaths of paper as they awaited interviews and appointments with officials.
Beyond the edge of the tidy line, hundreds more gathered in a small park awaiting their turn, and dozens more formed a separate line beyond that. For the first time in decades, American Embassy personnel were managing the order of entrants, taking names, calling names, answering questions.
 
U.S. & POLITICS By Erica Berenstein 2:28
Returning Stars and Stripes to Havana

Returning Stars and Stripes to Havana

Wayne S. Smith honeymooned in Cuba before taking a post at the United States Embassy in Havana. He is one of the last living American diplomats who witnessed the day the embassy closed in 1961.
 By Erica Berenstein on  June 30, 2015. Watch in Times Video »
Many of those waiting had relatives in the United States they planned to visit or live with. Almost all had made appointments months — some said years — earlier to facilitate their visas and, they said, they had just happened to arrive on the building’s first day as an official embassy.
“To be honest, I’m a little a nervous,” said Ramon Castillo Perez, 59, who was waiting to visit the United States for the first time, a trip that would reunite him with his wife. The trip would be a permanent one, if all went well — his wife was sponsoring his arrival.
For now, though, the change at the embassy was barely perceptible from the outside, arguably a metaphor for the state of Cuba itself. And if Cubans were expecting an official celebration on Monday, they were sorely disappointed.
A barber shop in central Havana. Some fear that Cuban culture will be lost with the opening of the island, but others think they will be able at last to earn more money.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times 
The official events to inaugurate the American Embassy will not take place until later in the summer, when Secretary of State John Kerry plans to visit, to formally raise the flag and install new signage.
In Washington, however, shouts of “Viva Cuba” rang out and tears rolled down Cuban diplomats’ cheeks as Mr. Rodríguez raised the flag and the Cuban national anthem played.
Inside the embassy, in a speech to diplomats, lawmakers and activists, Mr. Rodríguez expressed hope for “a dialogue based on mutual respect and sovereign equality.” And he thanked Mr. Obama for pushing for an end to the trade embargo and relaxing some travel and commercial restrictions.
Oswaldo Alamo, 66, in the government-owned shop in Havana where he sells rationed food items. Mr. Alamo said he supported the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States. Meridith Kohut for The New York Times 
Throngs of onlookers gathered to witness the raising of the flag, as critics and supporters of the opening jockeyed for attention with banners, signs and chants.
“Salsa sí, embargo no,” read one banner facing the embassy, while opponents of the Cuban government stood nearby with placards that said “Human rights now” and “No to dictatorship.”
“It is sort of like a wedding,” said James Williams, the president of an advocacy group, Engage Cuba, which has been lobbying for improved relations. “You’ve spent all this time planning your wedding day, and finally you’re getting to see someone walk down the aisle.”
“Now,” he added, “you have the rest of your life together.”
At a news conference at the State Department, Mr. Kerry said he would travel to Havana on Aug. 14 to celebrate the re-establishment of the embassy there. Officials at the department made sure that little public attention was paid to the addition of a Cuban flag in the building’s lobby where the flags of all the nations that have diplomatic relations with the United States are displayed.
But Mr. Kerry called it “a historic day, and a day for removing barriers.”
“Of course, this milestone does not signify an end to differences that still separate our governments,” Mr. Kerry said, switching between Spanish and English. “But it does reflect the reality that the Cold War ended long ago, and that the interests of both countries are better served by engagement than by estrangement.”
Azam Ahmed reported from Havana, and Julie Hirschfeld Davis from Washington.