“This recognition somehow sends a message to dissidents and others around the world that the U.S. accepts the Cuban form of government today as a legitimate form of government”, he told CNN’s State of the Union. Their conversion to embassies tolled a knell for policy approaches spawned and hardened over the five decades since President John F. Kennedy first tangled with youthful revolutionary Fidel Castro over Soviet expansion in the Americas.

Earlier, without ceremony, the Cuban flag was hung in the lobby of the State Department alongside those of other countries with which the US has diplomatic ties.

The hugely symbolic event will be followed by a meeting at the State Department between Secretary of State John Kerry and Rodriguez, the first Cuban foreign minister on an official visit to Washington since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. In Havana, the US Interests Section there changed its Facebook profile picture to an image that says US EMBASSY CUBA. A U.S. economic embargo against Cuba will remain in place, and only Congress can lift it.

Some lawmakers in the US, including a number of prominent president candidates from the Republican Party, have said they would not repeal the trade embargo and made pledges to rollback the moves made by President Obama with Cuba.

In the meantime, the former head of the interests section, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, has become chief of the mission as charge d’affaires, normally an embassies’ second-ranking diplomat.

A workman at the US Department of State adds the Cuban flag between Croatia and Cyprus ones at to the display of flags inside the main entrance at 202 “C” Street at 4am local time (0800 GMT) in Washington, DC on July 20, 2015.

But even as we accept that a total change of heart in America will be hard, we can not ignore the reality of the correctness of President Obama’s push to change USA policy on Cuba.

In Havana, the U.S. Interests Section will quietly be restored to an embassy the same day, without a ceremony.

“We began a conversation that I suspect will continue on human rights, which we know is going to be a part of this new relationship”, said Kirby. President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the US and Cuba will reopen their embassies in Havana and Washington, heralding a “new chapter” in relations after a half-century of hostility.

In May, the USA removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and both countries agreed to re-establish full relations on 1 July.

More than 500 people will attend the Cubans’ festivities in Washington, including members of Congress.

Tough negotiations eased one stumbling block, top USA diplomat for Latin America Roberta Jacobson said, after insisting that American diplomats be allowed to operate freely across Cuba.