CUBA SI YANKEE SI

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The Cuban embassy re-opens in Washington, D.C. for the first time in 54 years. The Cuban flag will rise in Washington, D.C., for the first time in over five decades on Monday in the latest step toward normalized relations between the two countries.

The flag-raising will be part of a daylong series of events commemorating the opening of a full Cuban embassy in Washington, about two miles north of the White House.

Since 1977, the building has served as a Cuban "interests section," where officials process visas and conduct basic consular services. The U.S. State Department has not announced when it will conduct a similar ceremony in Havana to convert the U.S. Interests Section there into a full embassy.

Diplomatic relations were broken off by President Eisenhower in 1961, after the deterioration in relations that followed Fidel Castro’s revolutionary coup. That was the same year that Barack Obama was born. The President is the driving force behind secret talks with Cuba that culminated in his announcement of a new era of cooperation.

The Early Days of Castro's Cuba http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbcnews-com/the-early-days-of-castros-cuba… via @nbcnews