Cuban FM leads delegation to open embassy in US

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez will head a delegation to attend the opening ceremony of the island country's embassy in Washington on Monday, an official said here Thursday.

Gustavo Machin, deputy director for U.S. affairs in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said the delegation also comprises other senior Cuban officials and 30 representatives from different sectors.

Machin said Rodriguez will deliver an opening speech and later hold talks with his U.S. counterpart, John Kerry, at the headquarters of the U.S. State Department.

Machin stressed that the opening of the Cuban embassy in Washington marks the completion of only the first phase of efforts to restore bilateral ties.

Before the normalization of bilateral ties, Cuba has demand the United States lift its more than 50-year-old economic blockade, return the land occupied by the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, stop the radio and television broadcasting aimed at subverting the Cuban government, and repair the damages caused by the U.S. hostile policy in half a century.