International security

Signaling a New Era in Relations, the Cuban Embassy Reopens in Washington

In 1917, the Cuban government of General Mario Garcia Menocal commissioned construction of a regal mansion on upper 16th Street in Washington, DC, to house the Embassy of Cuba. It was that building President Eisenhower closed down on January 3, 1961, when he broke diplomatic relations with Fidel Castro’s Cuba amidst the CIA’s secret preparations for the Bay of Pigs invasion.