Daniela Berson
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) At 10:30 a.m. on Monday, the Cuban Embassy in Washington raised its flag for the first time in more than 50 years.
Supporters and opponents of U.S. relations with the communist nation gathered outside the building in Embassy Row to watch the ceremony.
Some Cuban citizens sang their country’s national anthem while others protested the policy decision.
The Cuban Embassy building has been closed since 1961, when President Dwight Eisenhower cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba following Fidel Castro’s revolutionary coup.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that the Cuban government will assist the U.S. in facilitating trade between the two countries but also mentioned returning U.S. property in Guantanamo Bay to Cuba.
“Only the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade… the return of the occupied territory in Guantanamo, and the respect for Cuba’s sovereignty will lend some meaning to the historic event that we are witnessing today,” Rodriguez said at the embassy’s opening ceremony.
“I bring greetings from president Raul Castro as an expression of the good will and sound determination to move forward.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the United States Embassy in Cuba next month for a similar ceremony.
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