US and Cuba formally agree to open embassies and restore diplomatic relations

After 50 years of diplomatic standoff, the U.S. and Cuba plan to announce Wednesday that they will establish formal diplomatic relations and open embassies in each other’s capitals, a senior U.S. administration official said. This will be the most significant move toward normalizing relations between the U.S. and Cuba, as Obama administration said Tuesday that the two had agreed to open embassies in each other's countries.

The diplomatic development is the most authoritative move the Obama administration can make unilaterally without an act of Congress, which still holds the power to lift or retain the Cuban economic embargo that has been in place for decades. It comes six months after President Obama ordered the opening of relations, ending more than half a century of Cold War standoff as he promised to “cut loose the shackles of the past.”