The announcement was expected for today and it has arrived: after the US-Cuba thaw, dated last December after 53 years of US embargo on the Caribbean island, diplomatic relations between the two countries are officially re-established today, with L'start of the procedure for the reopening of the embassies.
The American embassy in Havana was closed in 1961 by order of President Dwight Eisenhower. Today the interim Cuban foreign minister, Marcelino Medina Gonzalez, will meet the head of the US "interest section" on the island, Jeffrey De Laurentis, who will deliver a letter from the US president addressed to Raul Castro on the "re-establishment of diplomats between the USA and Cuba and the opening of embassies”. This was announced in a statement from the Cuban foreign ministry, taken from the Cubadebate website.
Both countries will therefore raise the rank of their current "interest sections" to the rank of embassy, even if the appointment of the respective ambassadors will take place at a later stage. Among other things, the State Department must give Congress 15 days notice before opening an embassy. No change, however, on theembargo Usa in force since February 7, 1962: Obama does not have the power to intervene directly, despite having hoped for an end to hostilities also at a commercial level.
Only the Congress he can revoke the sanctions, but at the moment it is difficult for this to happen, given that the two Chambers have a Republican majority. Among other things, the lobby of Cuban exiles is very strong and capable of influencing the exponents of the GOP in view of the 2016 primaries. The path towards the thaw, started thanks to the secret talks also mediated by Papa Francesco (who will be in Cuba in September before visiting the USA) began in mid-2013. Obama's last formal opening dates back to last May 29, with the removal of Cuba from the list of states sponsors of terrorism, in which it had been included in 1982.
