CUBA-USA/MARINES-FLAG Three U.S. marines keep 54-year-old promise to raise American flag over Cuba embassy

Record ID: 144000

  • Title: CUBA-USA/MARINES-FLAG Three U.S. marines keep 54-year-old promise to raise American flag over Cuba embassy
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (AUGUST 14, 2015) (REUTERS) RETIRED U.S. MARINES, LARRY MORRIS, JIM TRACEY AND MIKE EAST SALUTING MEMBERS OF THE U.S. MARINE COLOR GUARD AFTER HANDING OVER THE AMERICAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7P7RQ1KDK32G1NG2WM7H2WTJF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Watched over by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Marines raised the American flag at the embassy in Cuba for the first time in 54 years on Friday (August 14), symbolically ushering in an era of renewed diplomatic relations between the two Cold War-era foes.
    Three retired U.S. Marines -- Larry Morris, Jim Tracey and Mike East -- who last lowered the flag in 1961 participated in the ceremony, handing a new flag to the U.S. Marine Color Guard, which raised it on the grounds outside the embassy building on the Havana seafront.
    "Fifty-four years ago, you gentlemen promised to return to Havana and hoist the flag over the United States embassy that you lowered on that January day long ago," Kerry said during the ceremony, turning to address Morris, Tracey and East in the audience.
    "Today, I invite you on behalf of President Obama and the American people to fulfill that pledge by presenting the Stars and Stripes to be raised by members of our current military detachment. Larry, Jim and Mike, this is your cue to deliver on words that would make any diplomat proud, just as they would any member of the United States Marine Corps. Promise made, promise kept," Kerry continued.
    Kerry, the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Cuba in 70 years, told the ceremony it was obvious that "the road of mutual isolation and estrangement that the United States and Cuba have been traveling is not the right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction."
    The symbolic event took place eight months after Havana and Washington agreed to restore ties and nearly four weeks after the United States and Cuba formally renewed diplomatic relations and upgraded their diplomatic missions to embassies.
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