Hundreds of Cubans turned up to witness the historic moment when three Marines who were there in 1961 — on the day the embassy was shuttered by the Cold War — returned to raise the flag while the United States Army Brass Quintet played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Millions more watched as Secretary of State Kerry, speaking in both English and Spanish from the grounds of the “Embassy of the United States of America” made an unprecedented call for more freedom in communist-controlled Cuba that was broadcast on state-run TV.
“We remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas, practice their faith,” Kerry told an audience of Cuban and U.S. diplomats on the embassy grounds.
