US And Cuba Restore Formal Diplomatic Relations After Half A Century

Havana: USA and Cuba resumed formal diplomatic relations for the first time since 1961 as US President Barack Obama and his family made their way around Havana on Sunday evening.

Obama became the first US president to visit Cuba in 88 years, and the first since a revolution led by Cuban politician and revolutionary figure Fidel Castro toppled a US-backed Cuban President in 1959. US and Cuba severed diplomatic relations in 1961 and since the 1970s had been represented in each other's capitals by limited-service interests sections.

“This is a historic visit,” Obama said as he greeted US Embassy staff and their families at a Havana hotel. “It’s a historic opportunity to engage with the Cuban people,” he added.

The Cuban flag was raised over the country's newly restored embassy in Washington DC. Bruno Rodriguez, the Cuban foreign minister, presided over the flag-raising ceremony, just hours after full diplomatic relations with the US were restored at midnight.

Though normalization has taken centre-stage in the US-Cuba relationship, there are a number of issues between the nations which still need to get resolved. Among the disputes are mutual claims for economic reparations, Cuba's insistence on the end of the 53-year-old trade embargo and US calls for Cuba to improve on human rights and democracy.

Monday's events cap a remarkable change of course in US policy towards the communist island under President Barack Obama, who had sought rapprochement with Cuba since he first took office and has progressively loosened restrictions on travel and remittances to the island.