First on CNN: Kerry to make historic trip to Cuba on Aug. 14

By Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 3:04 PM EDT, Mon July 20, 2015
(CNN) —  

Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Havana on Aug. 14, to raise the American flag over the U.S. embassy in Cuba, senior administration officials and diplomatic sources tell CNN.

Kerry’s historic trip will mark the first secretary of state to visit to the island since 1945.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, May 29, shortly after Buhari
Photos: John Kerry's travels
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, May 29, shortly after Buhari's inauguration in Abuja, Nigeria.
PHOTO: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry is welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential residence of Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday, May 12.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry is welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential residence of Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday, May 12.
PHOTO: Joshua Roberts/Pool/AP
Kerry speaks with China
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry speaks with China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi at the Diaoyutai State Guest House on May 16 in Beijing. Kerry is urging China to halt increasingly assertive actions it is taking in the South China Sea.
PHOTO: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Getty Images
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, from left, Luebeck
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, from left, Luebeck's Mayor Bernd Saxe, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Kerry take a boat cruise during a meeting of G-7 foreign ministers in Luebeck, Germany, on April 15. The foreign ministers met to discuss global political and security issues ahead of a G-7 summit to take place in June 2015 in southern Germany.
PHOTO: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry rides his bike on March 16, during a break in talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, about Iran
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry rides his bike on March 16, during a break in talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, about Iran's nuclear program.
PHOTO: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Kerry listens to a talk during the 51st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on February 8. The Ukraine conflict, ISIS jihadists and the wider "collapse of the global order" occupied the world
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry listens to a talk during the 51st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on February 8. The Ukraine conflict, ISIS jihadists and the wider "collapse of the global order" occupied the world's security community at the annual meeting.
PHOTO: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry walks off the plane at Kiev Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, Ukraine, on February 5. His visit came as international pressure grew for an immediate halt to surging violence.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry walks off the plane at Kiev Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, Ukraine, on February 5. His visit came as international pressure grew for an immediate halt to surging violence.
PHOTO: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry walks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris on January 16 through a memorial to the victims killed in the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry walks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris on January 16 through a memorial to the victims killed in the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
PHOTO: RICK WILKING/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry and U.S. President Barack Obama meet with Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry and U.S. President Barack Obama meet with Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, on November 12, 2014, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
PHOTO: Petar Kujundzic -Pool/Getty Images
During a tour of the Berlin Wall memorial on October 22, 2014, in Berlin, Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, left, chat with Regina Webert-Lehmann, who in 1989 fled from communist East Germany in her Trabant car (pictured) to Hungary shortly before revolutions swept Eastern Europe. Kerry and Steinmeier met with students and walked along a still-standing portion of the wall that divided East and West Berlin and whose fall 25 years ago marked the end of the Cold War.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
During a tour of the Berlin Wall memorial on October 22, 2014, in Berlin, Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, left, chat with Regina Webert-Lehmann, who in 1989 fled from communist East Germany in her Trabant car (pictured) to Hungary shortly before revolutions swept Eastern Europe. Kerry and Steinmeier met with students and walked along a still-standing portion of the wall that divided East and West Berlin and whose fall 25 years ago marked the end of the Cold War.
PHOTO: Pool/Getty Image
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, from left, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Al-Khalid al-Sabah, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Kerry, Omani Foreign Minister Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil stand together for a photo of the Gulf Cooperation Council and regional partners on September 11, 2014, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Kerry and regional counterparts discused forming a coalition to support an American campaign against ISIS jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, from left, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Al-Khalid al-Sabah, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Kerry, Omani Foreign Minister Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil stand together for a photo of the Gulf Cooperation Council and regional partners on September 11, 2014, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Kerry and regional counterparts discused forming a coalition to support an American campaign against ISIS jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
PHOTO: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry looks out over Baghdad, Iraq, from a helicopter on September 10, 2014. Kerry flew into Iraq for talks with its new leaders on their role in a long-awaited new strategy against ISIS militants.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry looks out over Baghdad, Iraq, from a helicopter on September 10, 2014. Kerry flew into Iraq for talks with its new leaders on their role in a long-awaited new strategy against ISIS militants.
PHOTO: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry visits a replica of Captain Cook
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry visits a replica of Captain Cook's ship Endeavour at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney on August 11, 2014.
PHOTO: Jason Reed/Pool/Getty Images
Kerry kicks around a soccer ball during an airplane refueling stop at Sal Island, Cape Verde, on Monday, May 5, 2014. Kerry was on his first major tour of Africa, focusing on some of the continent
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry kicks around a soccer ball during an airplane refueling stop at Sal Island, Cape Verde, on Monday, May 5, 2014. Kerry was on his first major tour of Africa, focusing on some of the continent's most brutal conflicts.
PHOTO: Saul Loeb/Pool/AP
Kerry visits patients at the Fistula Clinic at St. Joseph
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry visits patients at the Fistula Clinic at St. Joseph's Hospital in Kinshasa, Congo, on Sunday, May 4, 2014.
PHOTO: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry talks with the crew of a U.S. Air Force plane prior to departure from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, May 2, 2014. He was en route to Juba, South Sudan, to demand a cease-fire in the brutal civil war that has sparked dire warnings of genocide and famine.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry talks with the crew of a U.S. Air Force plane prior to departure from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, May 2, 2014. He was en route to Juba, South Sudan, to demand a cease-fire in the brutal civil war that has sparked dire warnings of genocide and famine.
PHOTO: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry looks out a window moments before meeting with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Zeralda, Algeria, in April 2014.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry looks out a window moments before meeting with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Zeralda, Algeria, in April 2014.
PHOTO: JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry stands beside a barricade at the Shrine of the Fallen in Kiev, Ukraine, in March 2014. It was part of his trip to Europe in search of a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry stands beside a barricade at the Shrine of the Fallen in Kiev, Ukraine, in March 2014. It was part of his trip to Europe in search of a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
PHOTO: Kevin Lamarque/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Kerry talks to reporters on a boat on the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam in December. Kerry had patrolled the muddy waters 40 years earlier as a U.S. naval officer. Kerry also visited Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry talks to reporters on a boat on the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam in December. Kerry had patrolled the muddy waters 40 years earlier as a U.S. naval officer. Kerry also visited Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
PHOTO: Brian Snyder/Pool/AP
Kerry checks his cell phone in Geneva, Switzerland, prior to a November 2103 meeting with Iran
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry checks his cell phone in Geneva, Switzerland, prior to a November 2103 meeting with Iran's foreign minister and the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs.
PHOTO: Jason Reed/Pool/AFP/Getty Image
In May 2013, Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visited the St. Basil Cathedral in Moscow
Photos: John Kerry's travels
In May 2013, Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visited the St. Basil Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square.
PHOTO: Mladen Antonov/Pool/AP
Kerry boards a plane in Amman, Jordan, where in May 2013 he met with leaders to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry boards a plane in Amman, Jordan, where in May 2013 he met with leaders to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria.
PHOTO: Jim Young/Pool/AP
During a flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Paris in March 2013, Kerry presents a birthday cake to traveling CBS correspondent Margaret Brennan.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
During a flight from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Paris in March 2013, Kerry presents a birthday cake to traveling CBS correspondent Margaret Brennan.
PHOTO: Jason Reed/Pool/AP
In March 2013, Kerry met with leaders of the Syrian Opposition Coalition in Istanbul and pledged once again to increase U.S. assistance. Kerry then traveled to Brussels to discuss NATO
Photos: John Kerry's travels
In March 2013, Kerry met with leaders of the Syrian Opposition Coalition in Istanbul and pledged once again to increase U.S. assistance. Kerry then traveled to Brussels to discuss NATO's post-2014 mission in Afghanistan.
PHOTO: Jason Reed/Pool/AP
Kerry
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry's third trip as secretary of state focused on promoting peace in the Middle East. He visited Turkey, seen here, and Egypt before heading to London for a meeting of G8 foreign ministers.
PHOTO: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AP
Kerry touches down in Rome during a hectic nine-day trip in February 2013. Kerry accompanied President Barack Obama to Europe, Israel, Jordan and several Palestinian territories.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry touches down in Rome during a hectic nine-day trip in February 2013. Kerry accompanied President Barack Obama to Europe, Israel, Jordan and several Palestinian territories.
PHOTO: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AP
Kerry talks to reporters en route to London on his first trip as secretary of state in February 2013. The trip took him through European and Middle Eastern capitals.
Photos: John Kerry's travels
Kerry talks to reporters en route to London on his first trip as secretary of state in February 2013. The trip took him through European and Middle Eastern capitals.
PHOTO: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/AP

The U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations Monday for the first time since 1961, with both countries’ Interest Sections officially becoming embassies. The Cuban and American heads of their respective Interest Sections will become charges d’affaires until ambassadors are named.

Cuban Embassy sign
Cuban Embassy sign

On Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla will raise his country’s flag at the Cuban embassy in Washington, an event that Cuban government officials said would be broadcast live on the island’s state-run TV. He will then meet with Kerry at the State Department, followed by a press conference.

Reopened U.S., Cuban embassies to focus on diplomacy, not subterfuge

A Cuban delegation of diplomats, artists and veterans of the revolution were to commemorate the breakthrough with about 500 guests and more than likely down a few celebratory mojitos and shots of Havana Club rum.