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Obama: US And Cuban Embassies Signify 'Change'

President Barack Obama has confirmed the US and Cuba will reopen embassies in Washington and Havana in "a historic step".

The announcement marks the most significant milestone yet in attempts to normalise relations after 50 years of tensions between the neighbours.

Cuban President Raul Castro confirmed Washington and Havana would open the embassies as early as 20 July.

Mr Obama said Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to Havana this summer to "proudly" raise the American flag over the diplomatic mission in the Cuban capital.

"The progress we make today is another demonstration we don't have to be imprisoned by the past," the President said.

He said the move means American diplomats will be able to engage directly with Cuban government officials, civil society leaders and ordinary Cubans.

"This is what change looks like," he added.

Cuban state television took the unusual step of broadcasting Mr Obama's statement live with a translation into Spanish.

The US President announced in December that secret negotiations over re-starting diplomatic relations had been going on for 18 months.

In April, Mr Obama met Cuban leader Raul Castro in Panama, the first face-to-face meeting between leaders from the two nations since 1956.

And last month the US removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terror, lifting a significant obstacle to re-establishing relations.

Ties were cut in 1961 after Fidel Castro - a communist close to the then Soviet powers - took control in Havana and the US spent decades trying to overthrow him or isolate an island which lies just 90 miles off the Florida coast.

But the thaw is not welcomed by everyone in Washington.

Opponents in Congress have accused Mr Obama of handing a victory to the Castro regime to burnish his own presidential reputation.

Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American from Florida, said re-opening the embassy "will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping".

It will be for Congress to decide whether to lift the US trade embargo on Cuba - as Mr Obama has requested.

Washington still has concerns about Havana's record on human rights and its sheltering of fugitives from the US.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio - both running for the Republican nomination for president - have also criticised Mr Obama's decision.