(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday it was time to start repairing what has been broken with Cuba and to open too long closed relations.
Kerry said the process of fully normalizing relations will continue, though it may be long and complex and requiring patience.
His remarks came during a joint press conference with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez after an inauguration ceremony that opened the Cuban embassy in the U.S. following a more than 50-year break in relations.
"We are taking an historic and long overdue step in the right direction," Kerry said, assuring the world and Cuba that the U.S. will do its part in the process.
Kerry is expected to visit Cuba on Aug. 14 to preside over a flag-raising ceremony at the U.S. embassy in Havana.
Rodriguez also described the normalizing of bilateral relations between the two countries as a "long and complex process" but said his government wants a relationship based on "respect, equality, sovereign equality without prejudice to the independence and sovereignty of Cuba and without any interference" in the island's internal affairs.
He alluded to the complex process in references to Guantanamo Bay and the effects of half a century of sanctions against Cuba.
Rodriguez called for the U.S. to lift its economic blockade against his country, "as well as the return of the illegally territory of Guantanamo as well as the full respect for the Cuban sovereignty as well as the compensation to our people for human and economic damages."
Asked if Cuba had preconditions for engaging in the normalization process, Rodriguez said the solution to a series of "pending" problems were presupposed by it.
They include ending the economic blockade, the return of Guantanamo Bay territory, and the full respect for the sovereignty of Cuba, he said.
Despite the thorny issues, Kerry and Rodriguez said they believed the two countries could cooperate and coexist.
"This milestone does not signify an end to the many differences that still separate our governments," Kerry said.
Havana and Washington severed ties in 1961.
Despite the resumption of full diplomatic relations, Washington and Havana continue to wrangle over a series of heated disputes, including the U.S.-imposed blockade against the island nation and Cuba's human rights record.
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