Obama says Cuba and the US will reopen embassies after 54 years

Move "demonstrates we don't have to be imprisoned by the past"

(Getty Images)

It was 1961 when then-President Dwight Eisenhower closed the US embassy in Havana, launching a more than half-century of frozen relations between the US and Cuba.

1961 was also the year Barack Obama was born and on Wednesday he announced that he officially is the US president that will reestablish diplomatic relations with the Communist country.

The US and Cuba have been working toward normalizing relations since December, but have officially reached an agreement to reopen embassies in their respective capitals, Havana and Washington.

"(This) demostrates we don't have to be imprisoned by the past," Mr Obama said from the White House on Wednesday. "If something isn't working we can and will change."

He was referring to the Cuban embargo, which the president said has not been effective for 50 years.

Opening an embassy in Havana is a massive step in repairing relations between the two countries, but only Congress has the power to lift the embargo and the travel restrictions that have been in place since the 1960s.

Cuba and the US have held four rounds of talks aimed at repairing relations over the past several months, during which time Mr Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shook hands and held a meeting during a regional summit.

In May, the US cleared a huge stumbling block when it removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, something Cuba indicated was crucial in reestablishing diplomatic ties.

To open an embassy in Havana, the US State Department has to inform Congress of its intent to do so. Congress then would have 15 days the review the proposal before the US could open the embassy.

Follow @PaytonGuion on Twitter.