WASHINGTON — After more than a half-century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared Wednesday they will reopen embassies in each other’s capitals this month, marking a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes.
For President Barack Obama, the opening of the U.S. Embassy in the heart of Havana is one of the most tangible demonstrations of his long-standing pledge to engage directly with U.S. adversaries. Heralding the embassy agreement, Obama declared: “This is what change looks like.”
Cuban television broadcast Obama’s statement live, underscoring the new spirit. In a letter to Obama, Cuban President Raul Castro praised the embassy announcement as a way to “develop respectful relations and cooperation between our peoples and governments.”
Despite the historic step, the U.S. and Cuba are still grappling with deep divisions and mistrust.
The U.S. is particularly concerned about Cuba’s reputed human rights violations. Cuba is demanding an end to the U.S. economic embargo, the return of the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay and a halt to U.S. radio and TV broadcasts aimed at the island.
Obama wants Congress to lift the embargo, but staunch Republican opposition makes that unlikely in the near future. Republicans, as well as a handful of Democrats, say Obama is prematurely rewarding an oppressive government that jails dissidents and silences political opponents.
Republican presidential contenders had their say, too. Sen. Marco Rubio, son of a Cuban immigrant, said Obama was making concessions to an “odious regime”; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the plan was “legitimizing the brutal Castro regime”; and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said it was a “slap in the face of a close ally” to put an embassy in Havana before Jerusalem.
Indeed, the historic thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations is seen by the White House as a central part of the president’s foreign policy legacy. Obama has long argued that the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba, a country just 90 miles south of Florida, has been ineffective in forcing the kind of change opponents demand.
“We don’t have to be imprisoned by the past,” Obama said.
