Statement
on Cuba
John Kerry, Secretary of State
Vienna, Austria
July 1, 2015
SECRETARY
KERRY: Good
afternoon, everybody. Thank you for your patience. In Washington a few moments
ago, President Obama announced that we had reached an agreement to formally
re-establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba and that we will
reopen embassies in our respective countries.
Later this summer, as the
President announced, I will travel to Cuba to personally take part in the
formal reopening of our United States Embassy in Havana. This will mark the
resumption of embassy operations after a period of 54 years. It will also be
the first visit by a Secretary of State to Cuba since 1945. The reopening of
our embassy, I will tell you, is an important step on the road to restoring
fully normal relations between the United States and Cuba. Coming a quarter of
a century after the end of the Cold War, it recognizes the reality of the
changed circumstances, and it will serve to meet a number of practical needs.
The United States and Cuba
continue to have sharp differences over democracy, human rights, and related
issues, but we also have identified areas for cooperation that include law
enforcement, safe transportation, emergency response, environmental protection,
telecommunications, and migration. The resumption of full embassy activities
will help us engage the Cuban Government more often and at a higher level, and
it will also allow our diplomats to interact more frequently, and frankly more
broadly and effectively, with the Cuban people. In addition, we will better be
able to assist Americans who travel to the island nation in order to visit
family members or for other purposes.
This transition, this moment in
history, is taking place because President Obama made a personal, fundamental
decision to change a policy that didn’t work and that had been in place not
working for far too long. I believe that’s leadership, and I appreciate that
leadership. And President Castro felt similarly that it was time for a change.
Both leaders agree that concentrating on the issues and possibilities of the
future is far more productive than remaining mired in the past. And I would say
as we look at the world today with conflicts that we see and even these
negotiations taking place here in Vienna, it is important for people to
understand that things can change, that leadership can be effective and can
make a difference.
This step has been long overdue,
and the response of the international community has reflected the relief and
the welcoming that people all over the world feel for this step. This step will
advance the President’s vision – President Obama’s vision – of an Americas
where responsibilities are widely shared and where countries combine their
strengths to advance common interests and values. And we, frankly, also believe
that this opening will help to change relationships in the region as a whole.
I want to thank Assistant
Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson and her team, our team at the State
Department, together with those at the White House who have worked to lead
these discussions with their Cuban counterparts in order to enable the
normalization of our diplomatic relations and the reopening of our embassies. I
also want to thank the Government of Switzerland for the essential role that
they have played in serving as the United States protecting power in Cuba for
more than 50 years.
And finally, I want to
acknowledge the efforts of many in the United States Congress, the Cuban
American community, civil society, faith-based organizations, the private
sector, and others throughout our country and beyond who have supported the
start of a new chapter of relations between the United States and Cuba. I look
forward to meeting again with my Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, who I saw
most recently in Panama, and I also look forward to greeting our embassy
personnel and the Cuban people in Havana later this summer. I look forward to
taking part in the reopening of our United States embassy and in the raising of
the Stars and Stripes over that embassy, and the beginning of a new era of a
new relationship with the people of Cuba. Thank you all very much.
QUESTION:
Mr.
Secretary, will American diplomats have free access to talk to people –
SECRETARY
KERRY:
We’ll talk about all those details later. I’m not going to take questions right
now, folks, but I appreciate very much your patience and interest.
QUESTION:
Just
a few words about the negotiations here today, please.
SECRETARY
KERRY: Well,
I’ve got to take these away for that. (Laughter.) We are working very, very
hard. We have some very difficult issues, but we believe we’re making progress
and we’re going to continue to work because of that. Thank you all.
QUESTION: Foreign Minister
Zarif said there’s no deadline. Is there?
SECRETARY
KERRY: Thank
you very much.
QUESTION: Is there a deadline,
sir?
SECRETARY
KERRY: We
have our own sense of deadline. |
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