At 10:30 a.m. on Monday, July 20th, a big crowd gathered at the old building that for many years was home to the Cuban Interests Section at 2630 16th Street Northwest, to see it turn into the new Cuban Embassy in Washington.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez presided over the morning ceremony, in which the Cuban flag was hoisted amid the cheering of an excited audience of dozens of people on both sides of the gate.
Cubans living in the United States gathered to witness the historic moment.
“Most of the people were saying they wanted to see the flag,” reported OnCuba’s special correspondent in Washington, Tahimi Arboleya. “They think that this will mean better living conditions for Cubans who reside on the island, which according to them is the most important.”
“We are neighbors, and the most convenient thing to do is to put an end to our disagreements, and respect each other,” said a man of Cuban descent who spoke Spanish not without difficulty, but showed up wrapped in a Cuban flag.
Some people asked when they would be able to go inside the embassy. “The embassy will resume operations tomorrow, in its regular working hours. This flag is a symbol of the new times; another step has been taken.”
“I bring greetings from President Raul Castro,” said Rodriguez in his speech at the ceremony, “as an expression of the good will and sound determination to move forward, through a dialogue based on mutual respect and sovereign equality, to a civilized coexistence, even despite the differences that exist between both governments, which makes it possible to solve bilateral problems and promote cooperation and the development of mutually beneficial relations, just as both peoples desire and deserve.”
“The flag that we revere at the entrance of this room is the same that was hauled down here 54 years ago, which was zealously kept in Florida by a family of liberators and later on by the Museum of our eastern city of Las Tunas, as a sort of premonition that this day would certainly come,” noted Rodriguez earlier in his speech.
The minister said that the new embassy would be used to better promote cultural, economic, scientific, academic and sports relations as well as friendly ties between the two peoples.
He also conveyed the Cuban government’s respect and recognition to President Obama for urging the US Congress to lift the blockade as well as for the change of policy that he has announced, but in particular for the disposition he has shown to make use of his executive powers for that purpose.
Shortly after, it was announced that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Havana on August 14 for a similar ceremony at the American Embassy in Cuba.
On August 14, it will be my honor to raise the American flag at our Embassy in Havana, #Cuba for 1st time in 56 years. #USCuba
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) July 20, 2015
