Diplomacy Restored as US Embassy Opens in Cuba

iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. and Cuba will formally restore diplomatic ties Monday after more than 54 years apart.

Before dawn, a worker at the U.S. State Department quietly raised a red, white and blue Cuban flag, while in Cuba the former U.S. Interests Section in Havana officially became an embassy shortly after midnight.

Cuban President Raoul Castro said this day is the beginning of a long and complex road to normalizing relations between two countries that severed ties in 1961, shortly after a young Fidel Castro seized power, declaring Cuba a socialist state.

But while diplomacy is being restored, some differences still remain between the two nations. Among the differences still clearly present: freedom of speech and assembly.

On Sunday, Cuban security forces once again arrested political protesters. Critics, including several Republican presidential candidates, say Cuba has not yet done enough to earn a new relationship with the United States and threaten a change of course.

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