Cuba: Stars and Stripes flies over US embassy in Havana after 54 years

Thousands gathered in Havana, Friday, as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cuba, the first top US official to visit Cuba in around 70 years, to raise the US flag over the newly-opened US embassy. It will be the first time the Stars and Stripes has been flown on the building in 54 years. Audience members held Cuban flags, with some bearing pro-US banners and flags, causing several minor altercations. Discussing the reopening of the US embassy in Havana, Kerry said it is a "moment to become two neighbouring villages that are not enemies or rivals." Larry Morris, Francis East, Jim Tracy - the three US marines who originally took down the flag from the US embassy in January 1961 – returned the Stars and Stripes to the building to mark the event. Kerry is the first high-profile US official to visit Cuba in around 70 years. During his visit he will hold talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla on how bilateral relations between the two nations can continue to be improved. Diplomatic relations between the countries came to a halt in 1961, when the US started imposing a comprehensive economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba in response to the country's nationalisation of supposed US corporate property.