The United States is looking to turn its seven-story Interests Section building in Cuba into a full-fledged embassy as the two nations begin to normalize relations.
When Roberta Jacobson, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, visits Cuba next month, she is expected to discuss expanding staff at the U.S. outpost and lifting restrictions on diplomats that require them to ask permission for travel outside their respective capitals.
Currently, about 50 Americans and 300 Cubans work at the Havana site, according to the Associated Press. The wire service reported that the building, which was erected in 1953, is “closely watched by cameras and guards on both sides, a function of both the longtime tensions and general increased security at American diplomatic missions following 9/11.”
President Obama earlier this month said that he would set rules to soften the 54-year-old trade embargo on the communist nation.
Cuba is also expected to turn its interests section in Washington’s Adams Morgan neighborhood into an official embassy, the AP reported.
