As of midnight, the Cuban flag now hangs in the State Department to mark the reestablishment of political ties between Cuba and the U.S. As reported by AP and ABC news:
The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations Monday after more than five decades of frosty relations rooted in the Cold War.
The new era began with little fanfare when an agreement between the two nations to resume normal ties on July 20 came into force just after midnight Sunday and the diplomatic missions of each country were upgraded from interests sections to embassies. When clocks struck 12:00 in Washington and Havana, they tolled a knell for policy approaches spawned and hardened over the five decades since President John F. Kennedy first tangled with youthful revolutionary Fidel Castro over Soviet expansion in the Americas.
Without ceremony in the pre-dawn hours, maintenance hung the Cuban flag in the lobby of the State Department alongside those of other nations with which the U.S. has diplomatic relations. The historic shift will be publicly memorialized later Monday when Cuban officials formally inaugurate their embassy in Washington and Cuba’s blue, red and white-starred flag will fly for the first time since the countries severed ties in 1961. Secretary of State John Kerry will then meet his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, and address reporters at a joint news conference.
At the toll of midnight, just like Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage, our 54-year rift between Cuba magically vanished. Meanwhile, living their own fairytale:
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Something on my insides squirms when I see the living accommodations bestowed upon Cuban delegates, when people in their own country are jailed, beaten and even killed for taking a stand against the corrupt government.
America was supposed to be the knight in shining armor that stood up against communistic injustices — not the fairy godmother that granted their every wish.
