Cuba opens its U.S. embassy, entering into a complex bilateral relationship

Washington, Jul 20 (EFE).- With the Cuban flag waving over Washington for the first time in 54 years, the country's foreign minister said Monday that the way was open for a new and "complex" phase in the relationship with the United States marked by the ongoing U.S. embargo and differences regarding human rights.

On the day when bilateral diplomatic relations were officially resumed, Bruno Rodriguez presided at a well-attended ceremony to inaugurate the Cuban Embassy in the U.S. capital and afterwards held a lengthy meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry took advantage of the occasion to announce that he will travel to Havana on Aug. 14 to raise the U.S. flag at this country's diplomatic mission in Cuba, making him the first serving secretary of state to visit the island since 1945.

Rodriguez also made history on Monday by becoming the first Cuban foreign minister to visit the State Department since 1958.

"Today the opportunity opens to re-found bilateral relations new and distinct from everything that came before," he said during the formal opening of the Cuban Embassy.

Among the more than 500 invited guests at the ceremony opening were U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson and the head of the U.S. desk in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal, who led the respective teams during the negotiations on normalization.

In his address after the raising of the Cuban flag, Rodriguez demanded the end of Washington's economic embargo and the dismantling of the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo.

"The challenge is great because there have never been normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba despite a century-and-a-half of interchange between their peoples," he said.

A few hours later at the State Department, Kerry said that the process of completely normalizing relations will be "long and complex" and it will include "moments ... of frustration," but this is a "long overdue journey."

"We celebrate this day on July the 20th because today we begin to repair what was damaged and to open what has been closed for many years," said Kerry in Spanish.

With regard to the economic embargo, Kerry recalled that only Congress may lift it and said he was confident that as the bilateral relationship develops "in these next weeks and months and years - and hopefully not too many years" - those who oppose lifting the embargo will cease to do so.

Concerning the Cuban demand for the return of the Guantanamo naval base, Kerry said that, for now, "there is no discussion and no intention on our part at this moment to alter the existing lease treaty or other arrangements with respect to the naval station."

"We understand that Cuba has strong feelings about it and I can't tell you what the future will bring but for the moment that is not part of the discussion on our side," Kerry said.

The normalization process officially began when Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced a rapprochement betwee