President Barack Obama said Wednesday the United States and Cuba have struck a deal to re-established diplomatic relations and open embassies in each other's capitals. "The progress we make today is another demonstration we don't have to be imprisoned by the past," the president said. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes Ben Rhodes told MSNBC the U.S. will open its embassy in Cuba "shortly after" July 20, the date when Cuba will open its embassy in Washington, D.C. The U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 after Fidel Castro's revolution. The president announced in December that the U.S. was ending an "outdated approach" of isolating Cuba, and in May the U.S. dropped Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
