Location Havana, Cuba Phone +1 305-326-2755 | Address Calzada, La Habana, Cuba | |
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Interests Section September 1, 1977 – July 20, 2015 Chargé d'affaires ad interim Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis (since 2014) Similar Embassy of Cuba in Washingt, Embassy of the United States - Ot, Consulate of the United St, Consulate General of the Unite, Embassy of the United States - C Profiles | ||
The Embassy of the United States of America in Havana is the United States of America's diplomatic mission in the Republic of Cuba. On January 3, 1961, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower severed relations following the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter and President Fidel Castro reestablished direct bilateral diplomatic relations with the Interests Sections Agreement that permitted each government to operate out of its former embassy in Havana and Washington D.C., which were called Interests Sections; they were prohibited from flying their respective flags. Cuban President Raúl Castro and US President Barack Obama restored full diplomatic connections on July 20, 2015.
The building housed the United States Interests Section in Havana between 1977 and 2015, which operated under the auspices of the Swiss Embassy (acting as protecting power). On July 1, 2015 it was announced that with the resumption of diplomatic ties, the building resumed its role as the U.S. Embassy in Cuba on July 20, 2015. The embassy is led by Chargé d'affaires ad interim Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis.
History
The embassy was designed in the Modernist—Brutalist style by the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz. It is a long and six-story concrete and glass building, completed in 1953. The gardens were designed by Californian landscape architect Thomas Dolliver Church. The contractor for the building was Jaime Alberto Mitrani, PE, also a professor of civil engineering at the University of Havana. The embassy complex is located directly on the Bay of Havana and the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Platform, in proximity to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After the U.S. diplomatic mission became defunct in 1961, the building was not used by American personnel until the opening of the interests section on September 1, 1977. In 1963, Prime Minister of Cuba Fidel Castro ordered the confiscation of the complex, but action was never taken by the Cuban government, though it still claimed right to the property in 2012.
During the period that the complex served as an interests section, the U.S. was represented by Switzerland, and the Swiss maintained both the embassy complex and its effects. Renovations were completed on the complex in 1997. The building was upgraded from an interests section, and returned to its original role as the American embassy in Cuba on July 20, 2015.
On August 14, 2015, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reopened the American embassy in Havana. Eight congressional lawmakers involved in the policy change also attended. The three Marines who lowered the United States flag at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba 54 years ago presented another flag which was raised by the Marines assigned to the post.