Secretary of State John F. Kerry is in Cuba today to raise the U.S. flag for the first time in 54 years at the newly reopened U.S. Embassy. The United States and Cuba officially restored diplomatic relations July 20, as part of the normalization initiative President Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, announced in December.
No U.S. Secretary of State has visited Havana since Edward R. Stettinius Jr. visited in March 1945 to show American support for a short-lived democratic government. Kerry will help raise the Stars and Stripes at the embassy before an audience that includes three long-retired Marines who lowered the last U.S. flag there January 3, 1961 when President Eisenhower cut diplomatic relations with the new communist government under Castro’s brother, Fidel.
Along with Kerry is a 19-member delegation, including members of the Senate and House Agriculture committees, including Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee who still sits on the committee; Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), also a member of the committee; and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
There are congressional critics who view normalization as appeasement of the repressive Castro government. Kerry’s “presence in Havana on his global capitulation tour is yet another example of the Obama administration’s desire to pursue deals at any cost,” said Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). “While the Castro brothers will roll out the red carpet for Secretary Kerry, the people of Cuba will continue to be met with violence and detentions.” Administration critics also contend that the United States has made most of the concessions thus far, pointing to this year’s crackdown in Cuba on dissidents as a sign that the Castro government intends to maintain tight control despite U.S. pressure.
U.S. officials say they are determined to push on human rights in Cuba, including economic freedoms, but they will step carefully as they do not want to undermine cooperation on other important issues, including trade, counter-terrorism, and drug smuggling. Full normalization will be difficult until Cuba addresses long-standing claims by Cubans and U.S. businesses that lost billions of dollars in property and assets when the communists came to power. Cuba, in turn, wants the U.S. government to give back the Navy base at Guantanamo, which the United States has held since 1903, and lift the congressional trade embargo. Fidel Castro said this week in a newspaper column that the United States owes Cuba “numerous millions of dollars” for damage caused by the decades-old embargo.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez is scheduled to hold a joint news conference with Kerry, as he did last month in Washington after the Cuban Embassy reopened. Kerry is not expected to meet with Raul or Fidel Castro, who turned 89 Thursday.
