NBC News :
Diplomats were in place, the seal of the United States was hoisted onto the building – and half a century after it came down in a Cold War chill, the American flag now flies again over a U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Secretary of State John Kerry raised the Stars and Stripes on Friday, cementing the renewal of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. He becomes the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the communist island since World War II.
“My friends, it doesn’t take a GPS to realize that the road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the United States and Cuba
were traveling is not the right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction,” Kerry said. “In the United States, that means recognizing that U.S. policy is not the anvil on which Cuba’s future will be forged.”
The ceremony was rich with history: Three of the very Marines who lowered the flag at the Embassy in 1961 were hand to watch it fly again, Larry Morris, Mike East, and Jim Tracey. The three men were confronted by a large crowd as they lowered the flag.
“Larry, Mike and Jim had done their jobs, but they also made a bold promise – that one day they would return to Havana and raise the flag again,” Kerry said.
Years later, the men returned to fulfill their promise. “Larry, Jim, Mike. This is your cue to deliver on words that would make any diplomat proud, just as they would any member of the United States Marine Corps: “Promise made, promise kept,” Kerry told the men as moments later the flag was raised.
The historic shift from Cold War era relations was memorialized in July when Cuban officials inaugurated their embassy in Washington.
Diplomats were in place, the seal of the United States was hoisted onto the building – and half a century after it came down in a Cold War chill, the American flag now flies again over a U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Secretary of State John Kerry raised the Stars and Stripes on Friday, cementing the renewal of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. He becomes the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the communist island since World War II.
“My friends, it doesn’t take a GPS to realize that the road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the United States and Cuba
were traveling is not the right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction,” Kerry said. “In the United States, that means recognizing that U.S. policy is not the anvil on which Cuba’s future will be forged.”
The ceremony was rich with history: Three of the very Marines who lowered the flag at the Embassy in 1961 were hand to watch it fly again, Larry Morris, Mike East, and Jim Tracey. The three men were confronted by a large crowd as they lowered the flag.
“Larry, Mike and Jim had done their jobs, but they also made a bold promise – that one day they would return to Havana and raise the flag again,” Kerry said.
Years later, the men returned to fulfill their promise. “Larry, Jim, Mike. This is your cue to deliver on words that would make any diplomat proud, just as they would any member of the United States Marine Corps: “Promise made, promise kept,” Kerry told the men as moments later the flag was raised.
The historic shift from Cold War era relations was memorialized in July when Cuban officials inaugurated their embassy in Washington.
