In a ceremonial and historic moment, the American flag was once again raised at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba on the morning of Friday August 14, 2015. In front of thousands of Cuban residents, tons of American officials, business people and other supporters of improving relations between the United States and Cuba, the same three Marines that took down the flag in 1961, performed the ceremony of returning the flag back to the communist country that has been stricken of anti- American sentiments and needs of reform for the last fifty-four years.
In 1961, President Eisenhower gave the command to take the flag down in Cuba as political and economic tensions were beginning to take rise under the communist leadership and reign of Fidel Castro. Because of the approach of the Cold War, it was determined and decided that the U.S. and Cuba could no longer engage in further relations, marking the close of the U.S. Embassy. Without close ties to a democratic nation, under a communist regime, Cuba has seen many moments of unrest, including anti-American protests in front of, what used to be, an abandoned embassy, the development of a united group of Cuban dissidents, and even Cuban nationals defecting from their country.
As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave his speech on Friday morning, he didn’t have to explain how significant and metaphoric this ceremony was, as all those who were in attendance and us reading the news, understand that this moment represents how two countries can work on resolving years of issues in order to once again work together in the future. In one sense this is an incredible gesture of encouraging democratic measures and practices to a country that could benefit tremendously from the example the America has set. However, there are also so many underlying questions and concerns that stem from this new agreement: Will Cuba be able to transition into a full democratic nation?
Obviously a country does not just become a democracy overnight and surely a communist nation does not just simply reject all beliefs in order to be democratic. It’s going to take a lot of time before Cuba is able to decide, let alone move forward from it’s current state of government for something completely different and I’m sure officials from both countries understand the time that is needed. But what is uncertain is if this opening of the embassy will even promote talks of implementing democracy. Will the Castro regime learn to compromise and listen to it’s people? Will certain freedoms be granted?
This historical and memorable event is definitely a step in the right direction to mending relations with a country that we have been at a lot of disagreement with for over half a century. And unfortunately, there is no telling if opening the U.S. Embassy will even be the right move for the possibility of a democratic Cuba. As the political scope continues to heat up in America, there is no doubt that the new embassy will be a topic worth discussing. The next issue: how will we as a country move forward with Cuba?
