USA TODAY International Edition
CUBA FLAG FLIES IN D. C. FOR FIRST TIME IN 54 YEARS
Opening draws protesters as well as backers
Demonstrators and spectators gathered Monday to watch the Cuban flag being raised over Cuba’s embassy in Washington. It’s the latest step toward normal ties between the United States and the communist nation. “We are determined to live as good neighbors,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.
WASHINGTON Throngs of demonstrators gathered Monday to witness the raising of the Cuban flag over Cuba’s Embassy, the first time it has flown here since the United States broke off relations with the communist country 54 years ago.
As diplomats stood side by side, three Cuban guards in white uniforms raised the flag on Washington’s 16th Street to mark the formal reopening of the embassy.
The move signaled the latest step toward normal ties between the United States and Cuba. President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced in December the two nations would end their five- decade diplomatic freeze.
Though the U. S. Embassy in Havana also opened Monday, the State Department said it won’t host a similar flag- raising ceremony in the Cuban capital until Aug. 14, when Secretary of State John Kerry plans to attend. The department added a Cuban flag in a hall inside its headquarters that displays flags from every country that has diplomatic relations with the United States.
After the ceremony, Kerry met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. Kerry said that although the two nations differ on issues ranging from human rights to political systems, both will be better served by engagement rather than estrangement. “We are determined to live as good neighbors,” Kerry said.
Rodriguez listed several of his government’s long- standing requests, such as returning the U. S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay and ending the U. S. economic embargo, which Congress has shown little inclination to lift. Also crucial is “compensation for our citizens for human and economic damages,” he said.
Rodriguez said Monday’s events were a first step toward re- solving those issues. “We can both cooperate and coexist in a civilized way,” he said.
The events at the Cuban Embassy drew pro- and anti- Cuban demonstrations. Chants of “Viva Cuba” and “Viva Fidel” competed against those of “Free Cuba” and “Cuba, forever socialist.” One man was arrested after throwing a red paint bomb into a crowd.
“I am here to see a day of infa- my,” shouted Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a Washington group opposing any opening with Cuba.
Protester Aimel Rios said the new relationship will hurt Cubans if the United States does not insist on human rights changes on the island. “I came here to raise awareness about systematic human rights violations in Cuba,” said Rios, 31, who left Cuba in 1999 as a political refugee and is a human rights worker.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, a Republican presidential candidate, tweeted that engaging politically with Cuba “will only serve to further legitimize ( the) repressive regime.”
Sen. Bob Menendez, D- N. J., said diplomatic relations “are a privilege and must be earned,” something the Cuban government has failed to do.