US flag raised at embassy in Cuba after 54 years

 

 Taking part in flag-rising ceremony in Havana, John Kerry becomes first top US diplomat to visit the island in 70 years.

 In a historic moment in US-Cuba relations, the Stars and

Stripes flag has been raised over the restored American embassy in Havana.
Secretary of State John Kerry had travelled to Havana for the ceremony, along with three retired members of the US Marine Corps, who had originally lowered the flag at the embassy in Cuba in 1961.
Large crowds of Cubans waited outside the building for the ceremony, many carrying US or Cuban flags.
Addressing the crowds, partly in Spanish, Kerry spoke of future opportunities of exchanges between Cuba and the US, in terms of business and knowledge.
He also urged Cuba to pursue true democracy, Warning that Washington would not stop pressing for change on the island.
"The people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders," he said.
Landing in Havana on Friday, Kerry became the first head of US diplomacy to visit Cuba in 70 years.
The trip comes nearly four weeks after the US and Cuba formally renewed relations and upgraded their diplomatic missions to embassies.
While the Cubans celebrated with a flag-raising in Washington on July 20, the Americans waited until Kerry could travel to Havana.
Normalising relations
Washington severed diplomatic ties with Havana as relations soured soon after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
The seven-storey seafront building in Havana, and Cuba's mansion in Washington, were closed from 1961 until 1977, when they reopened as interests sections.
Seeking to end the long hostilities, Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama announced last December they would restore diplomatic ties, reopen embassies and work to normalise relations.
The economic embargo, however, legally remains in effect.
While the thaw in ties has been welcomed by Cubans hoping it will help the country's economy, former president Fidel Castro marked his 89th birthday with a newspaper column on Thursday repeating assertions that the US owes socialist Cuba "numerous millions of dollars" for damages caused by its decades-long embargo.
Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 following a revolution.
Relations with the US were broken in 1961 as he and fellow revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara led Cuba rapidly into a socialist model allied with the Soviet Union