Cuba to officially reopen embassy in Washington July 20

PanARMENIAN.Net - In a symbolic ceremony marking the end of 54 years of hostility, Cuba will raise its flag over a limestone mansion in Washington on Monday, July 20, and officially reopen its U.S. embassy, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Hundreds of people, including U.S. lawmakers, diplomats and others are expected to join visiting Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, who will lead a delegation of about 30 officials from Havana, including Cuba’s chief negotiator on the normalization of diplomatic ties, Josefina Vidal.

The U.S. hasn’t announced a date for a formal ceremony to mark the upgrade of its mission in Havana to an official embassy and no events are planned there Monday.

The U.S. will wait to raise an American flag and unveil a new sign until Secretary of State John Kerry travels there to do the honors later this summer, officials said. Kerry will meet Rodríguez at the State Department on Monday.

A trio of Cuban-American lawmakers will hold a news conference Monday in Miami to denounce the embassy reopening.

“Allowing the opening of the Cuban embassy in Washington is nothing but another indefensible capitulation by the Obama administration to an avowed enemy of the U.S.,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), who will host the conference along with Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R., Fla.) and Carlos Curbelo (R., Fla.).

Like the nuclear agreement reached last week with Iran, the normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba has grown out of the Obama administration’s policy of engaging with longstanding adversaries, the Journal says.

About 500 guests are expected to attend the ceremony at a building that has served as the Cuban Interests Section, a diplomatic post without an ambassador.