well cuba has an interest section in d.c. that has served for years. that building will probably be the new embassy when we get a new embassy again. over the last few weeks that building has had a freshly paved driveway. they repainted the fence and the new york times reports they have erected a huge new flagpole in the front lawn probably to get ready for the time coming when they ll raise the cuban flag in washington, d.c. so this is all underway. it is happening. the next big question is the embargo and congress and today president obama circled back to that too. americans and cubans alike are ready to move forward. i believe it is time for congress to do the same. i ve called on congress to take steps to lift the embargo that pre vents americans from doing business in cuba. we ve seen members in both parties to begin that work. after all, why should washington
is. soon there after there was a prisoner swap. the easing of restrictions and people sending money home to their families and they eased up on banking restrictions and travel restrictions. the president called on congress to debate lifting the embargo that we have imposed on cuba all this time. the president can t do it on his own. those have been a really, really big deal. today the reopening of the embassies after 54 years of being closed. president obama said today the secretary of state john kerry will travel to havana this summer to raise the american flag over our embassy there. as for the cuban embassy here, well, cuba has an interest section in d.c. that has served for years. that building will probably be the new embassy when we get a new embassy again. over the last few weeks that building has had a freshly paved
that we have imposed on cuba all this time. the president can t do it on his own. those have been a really, really big deal. today the reopening of the embassies after 54 years of being closed. president obama said today the secretary of state john kerry will travel to havana this summer to raise the american flag over our embassy there. as for the cuban embassy here, well, cuba has an interest section in d.c. that has served for years. that building will probably be the new embassy when we get a new embassy again. over the last few weeks that building has had a freshly paved driveway. they repainted the fence and the new york times reports they have erected a huge new flagpole in the front lawn, probably to get ready for the time coming when they ll raise the cuban flag in washington, d.c. so this is all underway. it is happening.
hearing in just a few moments. here in the rose garden, president obama announcing that the u.s. and cuba are reopening their embassies, located of course in washington and havana. located in their existing offices of the u.s. special interest section in havana and the cuban interest section here in washington. the cubans, as a matter of fact, recently installed a flagpole, that they ll be raising the cuban flag at. and we understand there s no timetable set for when the u.s. embassy will open up in cuba although we expect it to happen this month. the cubans are saying their embassy will open up on july 20th. as for who will be the ambassador, we ve been told by senior administration officials that the existing, current interest section s chief who is in havana right now will likely be the ambassador for the time being, the acting ambassador for the time being because it s very likely up on capitol hill that the republicans will block any
u.s. official he is a u.s. diplomat. he doesn t have an ambassadorial rank. there will be a full embassy in halve full ambassador in havana and a full ambassador here in washington. some oppose the development and expansion of that building which will be a formal u.s. embassy as opposed to a diplomatic interest section technically under control of the swiss government. there will be opposition once the president formally nominates someone, that person has to be confirmed by the u.s. congress. but the sense is this train is leaving the station, the full diplomatic relationship will be announced in the rose garden in the next few minutes when the president shows up there and then the process will get forward culminating at the end of july when presumably