In Cuba, John Kerry greets a “historic moment” in Spanish – Le Figaro

VIDEO – The first US secretary of state to visit the communist island since 1945 attended the raising of the American flag outside the embassy of the United States in Havana. But the normalization of relations between the two countries is still far from a reality.

A historic event. For 15 hours, Paris time, the American flag flies back to Havana after 54 years of absence. The Stars and Stripes was hoisted on Friday at the Embassy of the United States in Cuba, in the presence of John Kerry, the first US secretary of state to visit Cuba since 1945 and an official delegation. The latter, who hailed a “historic moment”, also said that “the path of mutual isolation and separation that have borrowed the United States and Cuba is not good.” “It is time to take a more promising direction,” he added.

On the occasion of this highly symbolic ceremony, three US Marines raised the colors in front of three of their seniors, now retired, who had lowered in 1961, two years after the coming to power of the revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. Consequence of the cold war and persistent tensions between Washington and Havana, the American flag had not flown since that year in front of the building on the Havana waterfront. A year later, in 1962, the US had decided to impose an embargo against Cuba, breaking all economic exchange, trade and finance with the communist island.

So the first words of John Kerry focused on the embargo. He recalled that the administration of President Barack Obama was “strongly favorable” to the lifting of the US embargo against Cuba. On 17 December, President Barack Obama had in fact officially acknowledged the failure of a half-century embargo, a statement which formally marked the rapprochement between the two countries.

Lifting the embargo, viewed as a priority by the Cuban regime is not resolved either. John Kerry recalled in particular that the decision is up to Congress, where Republicans opposed the deletion of this measure are the majority. Senate Republicans, and a handful of “hawks” Democrats also opposed the appointment of an ambassador in Havana. They believe that the Obama administration has given on the case of human rights without getting anything in return.

So it is no accident that John Kerry said in his speech, delivered in partly in Spanish, that “the people of Cuba would be better served by a true democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders.” The United States seeks in effect to the Raul Castro regime an improvement of the situation of human rights, the possibility for refugees who have been granted asylum in Cuba to return and compensation of Americans whose property has been nationalized during the arrival of Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

Meanwhile, Cuba calls, in addition to the end of the embargo, the return of the Guantanamo Naval Base, in the east and the end of radio and television broadcasts to Cuba from US soil.

The points of contention between the two countries are numerous and the normalization of relations should still take time . It could even be the focus of the next US presidential elections. In the Democratic camp, the favorite in the polls, the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, is clearly positioned in favor of lifting the embargo while the major Republican candidates do not hide their opposition. The verdict of the polls could well be decisive.