Backgrounder: Cuba's reopened embassy in U.S. to fly original vintage flag

HAVANA/WASHINGTON, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The Cuban government is preparing to reopen its embassy in Washington Monday (July 20) with the original Cuban flag that was taken down in 1961, when the two nations cut off ties.

In a move heavy with symbolism, the flag to be raised during the inauguration ceremony is the one that was lowered on Jan. 3, 1961, when the Cuban diplomatic mission in the United States closed.

The national standard was brought back to Cuba and preserved by historian Eusebio Leal Spengler. The scholar will be among the 30 Cuban citizens invited to the embassy opening ceremony on Monday.

Cuba and the United States will reopen their respective embassies as part of their recent agreement to restore diplomatic ties.

The agreement placed the two countries on the path toward the normalization of relations, and during the process the the two sides have to use political wisdom so as to find solutions to problems that have accumulated in the last 50-plus years, Cuban President Raul Castro said Wednesday in a speech to legislators.

Cuba's historic flag will again fly atop the nearly 100-year-old neoclassical mansion in the Adams Morgan district of Washington that has housed Cuba's Interests Section, basically a pared-down embassy then President Fidel Castro and his U.S. counterpart Jimmy Carter agreed to establishing in the late 1970s in lieu of embassies.

Full story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-07/20/c_134427292.htm

-- Xinhua 2015-07-20

It's their embassy. They can run around naked and sing "God Save the Queen" if they want to.

That's a nice touch.

This is an long overdue and exciting development for both the USA and CUBA.