Republic of Cuba

Colony, Occupation, and Republic

Cuba’s independent diplomacy followed the end of Spanish sovereignty in the war of 1898 and a period of American military occupation. The republic established in 1902 operated under restrictions imposed through the Platt Amendment, including an American right of intervention. Although the 1934 Treaty of Relations removed that provision, the United States continued to wield substantial influence. The revolution of 1959 displaced Batista’s government and transformed the island’s political order and international alignment. [1]

Representation after Independence

Cuba's Washington legation began with the establishment of the republic in 1902, after the end of United States military occupation. Reciprocal diplomatic relations date from 27 May, when the American envoy presented his credentials in Havana. Gonzalo de Quesada was already writing from the Cuban legation in Washington that June, forwarding a resolution of the Cuban House of Representatives to President Theodore Roosevelt. [1] [2]

Cuba commissioned a building for its legation at 2630 Sixteenth Street during the 1910s, on land purchased from John and Mary Henderson. Architects MacNeil and MacNeil designed the classical limestone building for the Cuban government. It differed from several neighboring diplomatic houses that the Hendersons had built speculatively for foreign tenants. Ambassadorial rank came later: Cosme de la Torriente was received by President Calvin Coolidge as Cuba's ambassador on 13 December 1923. [3] [4]

A Rupture and an Interests Section

The United States severed diplomatic relations on 3 January 1961. A working channel returned in a different legal form in 1977. During negotiations in Havana that April, the two governments discussed the size, leadership, and functions of reciprocal interests sections alongside prisoners, family visits, fishing, and maritime boundaries. Notes exchanged on 30 May established the arrangement, and the sections opened on 1 September. Ramón Sánchez Parodi headed the Cuban section in Washington under Czechoslovak protection. [1] [5]

The reciprocal interests sections operated under the protection of third countries: Czechoslovakia represented Cuban interests in Washington, and Switzerland represented American interests in Havana. The two governments retained this arrangement while formal diplomatic relations remained severed. [5]

Restoring the Embassy

On 20 July 2015, Cuba and the United States restored diplomatic relations and permanent diplomatic missions. An exchange of notes that day formally ended the 1977 interests section agreement, as amended in 1991, and provided for the sections to close simultaneously in the two capitals. The Washington mission resumed embassy status in the existing Sixteenth Street building. [1] [6] [3]

An Embassy in a Contested Relationship

The embassy continued to operate amid disputes over sanctions, travel, remittances, and property claims. American policy changes and reversals in early 2025 renewed these disputes while the governments remained divided over Cuba’s political and economic system. [7]

Related Reading

• Cuba and the United States