U.S., Cuba reestablish diplomatic relations after 5 decades

Just after midnight Sunday, an agreement between the United States and Cuba to restore full diplomatic relations went into effect.

Maintenance workers have been instructed to hang the Cuban flag in the lobby of the State Department, next to the flags of other countries with which the U.S. has diplomatic relations. Later in the day, Cuban officials will inaugurate their Washington embassy, and their flag will fly for the first time since 1961, when the U.S. and Cuba severed ties. In Havana, the U.S. Interests Section will release a written statement saying it will be upgraded to an embassy, but the flag will not be raised until Secretary of State John Kerry visits in August for a ceremony.

"It's a historic moment," Cuban diplomat and analyst Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press. "The significance of opening the embassies is that trust and respect that you can see, both sides treating the other with trust and respect. That doesn't mean there aren't going to be conflicts — there are bound to be conflicts — but the way you treat the conflict has completely changed."

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