America
US, Cuba to re-establish diplomatic ties on Monday
Washington, July 19The US and Cuba will on Monday re-establish diplomatic relations after half a century of enmity.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez will make a historic visit to Washington for a ceremony, after which he will meet his US counterpart John Kerry.
Seven months after US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro surprised the world by announcing a process of bilateral rapprochement, the two governments will put an end to decades of hostility by reopening their diplomatic headquarters and resuming the ties broken in 1961 and kept on ice ever since.
Rodriguez will attend the ceremony to reopen the Cuban embassy, a building constructed in 1917 some three km from the White House that currently houses the Cuban Interests Section, the low-profile diplomatic mission established - along with its US counterpart in Havana - in 1977.
The delegation headed by Rodriguez will include 30 people, among them former diplomats and representatives from the cultural, education, healthcare and scientific sectors, along with the Cuban Catholic Church and other organisations.
Some 500 Americans have been invited to the ceremony, including lawmakers, government officials and Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Roberta Jacobson.
After the ceremony, Rodriguez will travel to the State Department to meet Kerry, their second official meeting after their get-together in Panama on the eve of the Summit of the Americas last April.
The US is holding off on its ceremony to open its own embassy in Havana until Kerry visits the Cuban capital, but no date has been fixed for that trip yet.
The US flag will not wave over the embassy until Kerry officially inaugurates the diplomatic mission.
The current heads of the Cuban and US Interests Sections, Jose Ramon Cabanas and Jeffrey DeLaurentis, respectively, will become the charges d'affaires at both missions until the governments can name ambassadors.
47 minutes ago
Two colleges, eight schools receive bomb threats in TN's Tiruchi
47 minutes ago
Furore as two minor girls sexually assaulted by Pune school van driver
48 minutes ago
Gautham Vasudev Menon joins Thalapathy Vijay, Pooja Hegde in ‘Thalapathy 69’
49 minutes ago
‘Mata ka darbaar’ is set for Navratri at Shilpa Shetty's house
49 minutes ago
Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and other ‘Housefull 5’ cast to shoot on cruise
50 minutes ago
Ahan Shetty takes father Suniel Shetty’s legacy forward, joins ‘Border 2’ cast
50 minutes ago
Parineeti shares loved-up moments with husband Raghav from first anniversary celebration
53 minutes ago
West Bengal Governor shown black flag by Trinamool Congress' youth wing
54 minutes ago
Is it possible to answer foxes, says Kumaraswamy on extortion charges by ex-JD(S) leader
54 minutes ago
Maintain balance between personal ambitions and social sensitivity: Prez Murmu to students
1 hour ago
‘Unconstitutional’: SC on caste-based division of labour in prisons
1 hour ago
Prashant Kishor disrespected Mahatma Gandhi: JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar
1 hour ago
After heavy rain forecast, Chennai Corporation buys 36 boats as precautionary measure