US State Secretary Reopens Embassy in Havana

State Secretary John Kerry reopened on Friday the US embassy in the Cuban capital Havana after it has remained closed for 54 years.

Kerry, who raised the US flag above the embassy, identified the latest step towards the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries as a "truly historic moment".

However despite the recent thaw in relations, tensions between the two countries still remain, the CNN reports.

On Thursday, Cuban state media published an articled by Fidel Castro on the occasion of his 89th birthday, which made no mention of the restoration of diplomatic relations.

Instead, Castro noted the damages suffered by the Washington-imposed embargo on Cuba and the 70th anniversary since the atomic bombings of Japan by the US.

Cuban anti-Castro dissidents did not attend the official flag-raising ceremony at the US embassy, but were instead invited to an alternative event at the residence of the US chief of mission.

At the reopening of the Cuban embassy in Washington last month, Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla noted the differences remaining between the two countries.

According to him, the normalisation of relations is impossible until the embargo is fully lifted.

Although US Barack Obama eased some of the travel and business restrictions, the full embargo can be lifted only by Congress.