CUBA-SWITZERLAND As Cuba and U.S. normalize relations, Havana thanks Switzerland for the decades it handled its Interests Section

Record ID: 144056

  • Title: CUBA-SWITZERLAND As Cuba and U.S. normalize relations, Havana thanks Switzerland for the decades it handled its Interests Section
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER BRUNO RODRIGUEZ AND SWISS FOREIGN MINISTER DIDIER BURKHALTER SHAKING HANDS PHOTOGRAPHERS RODRIGUEZ WALKING WITH BURKHALTER WIDE OF FOREIGN MINISTERS AND OFFICIALS SITTING AT TABLE DURING MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BRUNO RODRIGUEZ, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER, S
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ZAPSFBWP52YDEEJU5186L5X1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As Havana and Washington re-establish diplomatic relations, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez thanked Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter on Thursday (August 13) for the decades in which the European country housed the Cuban Interests Section in the United States.
    "I also want to thank you very deeply for the enormously important Swiss contribution during the 24 years that it was in charge of Cuban Interests before the United States government," Rodriguez said.
    Because of its neutrality, Switzerland has been the protecting power for both nations, officially housing the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. It has fulfilled this role for the U.S. since 1977, when Havana and Washington agreed to open foreign interests' sections in each others' capital city. In 1991, the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., was attached to the Swiss embassy.
    Burkhalter said his country has worked since 1961, when Havana and Washington broke diplomatic ties, to serve as a neutral intermediary.
    "It's an honour for us that, for 54 years, we participated in this relationship, above all, with much equality and with much honesty," he said.
    The meeting between the two diplomats comes one day before the U.S. flag will be raised in Havana, a milestone in the diplomatic thaw that began with an announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on December 17.
    Last month, the Cuban flag was raised over Havana's embassy in Washington.
    According to the Embassy of Switzerland in the United States, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrote a letter to Burkhalter expressing his "deep gratitude" for Switzerland for its role as a protecting power in Cuba in January of 2015.
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