NEWS

Leahy on US embassy in Cuba: 'Remarkable'

Paris Achen
Free Press Staff Writer

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, saw the result last week of decades of meeting secretly and publicly with Cuban officials to normalize relations with the United States.

The U.S. embassy in Cuba reopened Friday 54 years after officials severed diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Leahy and his wife, Marcelle Leahy, traveled with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday to attend the opening of the embassy in Havana.

Leahy described the ceremony during a small gathering of reporters at his Burlington office Monday.

Three former Marines who took down the flag 54 years ago accompanied the American politicians to Cuba on Kerry's plane.

During the ceremony, the former Marines handed over the American flag to the three youngest Marines stationed at the embassy.

Secretary of State John Kerry watches the American flag being raised at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, following the normalization of relations between the two countries.

"They walk over to the flagpole, and as they hoisted the flag, the Army Brass played the 'Star Spangled Banner,' " Leahy said.

Leahy, who has been involved in rapprochement efforts for 20 years, said he became emotional as he heard applause from Americans and from Cubans, some of whom were hanging out of windows of apartment buildings as the flag was raised over the embassy.

"I felt very fortunate to be there," Leahy said. "It was a remarkable, remarkable time."

"I'll admit that I had a couple of tears flowing, after all these years to see this," the senator added.

Leahy also led efforts to free imprisoned aid worker Alan Gross, and on Dec. 17, President Obama sent Leahy to Havana to bring Gross home to the United States.

The Cuban embassy opened in Washington, D.C., last month.

Full rapprochement will take more time, Leahy said.

The trade embargo imposed on Cuba in 1961 remains in effect.

The three U.S. Marines who lowered the American flag when the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, closed more than 50 years ago were on hand when the flag was raised again following the normalization of relations between the two countries. The retired Marines are, from left, Gunnery Sgt. Francis ‘Mike’ East, Gunnery Sgt. James Tracy and Cpl. Larry Morris

Lifting the embargo would open up travel and educational opportunities for Americans and Cubans, Leahy said.

"It will bring about some changes in their government," he said. "It'll be much harder for them to have censorship and control their people."

"And it will remove what is really a bad mark on the United States," Leahy added. "There is nowhere in the world you go where you can justify our restrictions on Cuba."

Leahy said American businesses support lifting the embargo.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce, for instance, has requested a trade mission in Cuba, Leahy said. Cuba imports its milk from New Zealand. It would be less expensive to import the milk from the United States, Leahy said.

The senator and his wife plan to take a vacation to Cuba soon to go diving near a coral reef reputed to be "better than anywhere in the Caribbean."

This story was first posted online Aug. 17, 2015. Contact Paris Achen at 802-660-1874 and pachen@freepressmedia.com. Follow her at www.twitter.com/parisachen and https://www.facebook.com/ColTrends.