On August 14th 2015 The US Embassy in Havana, Cuba was re-opened 54 years after having been closed when Cuba-United States relations were broken off following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, with bilateral relations having deteriorated substantially.
By 1961, the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Cuba and began pursuing covert operations to topple the Communist regime.
In December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the beginning of a process to normalise relations between Cuba and the U.S., which the media named "the Cuban Thaw". Negotiated in secret in Canada and Vatican City over the preceding months, and with the assistance of Pope Francis, the agreement led to the lifting of some U.S. travel restrictions, fewer restrictions on remittances, U.S. banks access to the Cuban financial system, and the establishment of a U.S. embassy
On 20th March 2016, President Obama visited Cuba; in doing so he became the first President in 88 years to visit the island.
The land on which the US military base is located in Guantanamo Bay was leased to the United States by Cuba in 1903. After the 1959 revolution, Castro wanted to end the lease but, by mistake, allowed it to continue.
How?
Find out here...
The lease payments by that time were made by cheque. Due to an admin error the first cheque which arrived after the revolution was cashed, allowing the lease to stand.
The US has continued to send a cheque each year,but none were cashed, except for that first mistake.
Legend has it that all the un-cashed cheques were stuffed in a drawer in Castro's own office.
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