Obama, Cuba announce embassy openings

David Jackson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption President Obama: 'This is what change looks like' in Cuba President Obama said that reestablishing Cuban and U.S. embassies is a historic step in America's effort to "normalize its relations with the Cuban government and people."

WASHINGTON — While re-opened embassies will restore diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba, full normalization requires more actions -- including an end to the trade embargo that must be approved by the Republican-run Congress.

In announcing that embassies will re-open this month, Obama again called on Congress Wednesday to lift the embargo, and cast his opening to Cuba as a choice between the past and the future.

"Yes, there are those who want to turn back the clock and double down on a policy of isolation," Obama said, "but it's long past time for us to realize that this approach doesn't work. It hasn't worked for 50 years."

Republican congressional leaders, meanwhile, said the embassy decision is another example of how Obama gives the Castro regime things without demanding democratic reforms in return.

"The Obama administration is handing the Castros a lifetime dream of legitimacy without getting a thing for the Cuban people being oppressed by this brutal communist dictatorship," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Both Obama and Cuban counterpart Raul Castro made simultaneous announcements about the embassy re-openings. Cuban state-run television took the unusual step of televising Obama's remarks from the White House.

"This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas," Obama said from the Rose Garden.

A statement from Cuba's foreign ministry "confirms the decision to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries and open permanent diplomatic missions in their respective capitals, from July 20."

Obama said Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Havana to formally re-open the U.S. embassy. It will be the first Cuban trip for an American secretary of state since 1945.

The embassy will enable more American contact with the Cuban people, including travel, educational, and cultural exchanges, Obama said, adding that "I strongly believe that the best way for America to support our values is through engagement."

Embassy operations will also promote cooperation on items like counter-terrorism, disaster response, and regional development, he said.

The United States and Cuba have operated "interests sections" in each other's country since the late 1970s, but those operations do not enjoy the status of embassies.

On Wednesday, the United States' top diplomat in Cuba, U.S. Interests Section chief Jeffrey DeLaurentis, delivered a letter from the White House to the Cuban government about the renewed embassies.

While the re-establishment of embassies restores diplomatic ties broken 54 years ago, full normalization of American-Cuban relations depends on other issues that have yet to be resolved.

They include compensation for U.S. property confiscated by Fidel Castro's government after his revolution, returning U.S. fugitives who have found safe harbor in Cuba, and the status of political prisoners in Cuba -- plus the trade embargo.

The embargo "shuts America out of Cuba's future, and it only makes life worse for the Cuban people," Obama said in his plea to Congress.

The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961, not long after Castro took power. The ensuing Cold War between the U.S. and the island 90 miles south of Florida ranged from the imposition of the trade embargo against Cuba to U.S. attempts to assassinate Castro.

In October 1962, the Soviet Union's attempt to use Cuba as a staging area for missiles that could reach the United States nearly triggered a nuclear war.

The embassy announcements came shortly after the United States removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that resulted from Obama's December announcement of a new relationship with Cuba.

"A year ago, it might've seemed impossible that the United States would once again be raising our flag, the Stars and Stripes, over an embassy in Havana," Obama said. "This is what change looks like."

Republicans of Cuban descent have been critical of Obama's efforts.

They said Obama should be demanding more from Cuba — the release of political prisoners, more steps toward democracy — in exchange for diplomatic concessions from the U.S.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said the Castro regime now feels "emboldened to continue its attacks against the Cuban people," and that Obama has turned his back on them.

"Opening the American Embassy in Cuba will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping," she said.

Republican presidential candidates have also criticized Obama's new Cuba policy, including Floridians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

Rubio, a U.S. senator, said that "I intend to oppose the confirmation of an ambassador to Cuba" until the compensation, fugitive and political prisoner issues are addressed.

Bush, a Miami area resident and former governor of Florida, said the re-opening of the embassies "will legitimize repression in Cuba, not promote the cause of freedom and democracy."