Havana, August 7 (RHC) -- Meanwhile, just days before Secretary of State John Kerry is to officially inaugurate the reopened U.S. Embassy in Havana, the city’s official historian told EFE news agency that Cuba has never harbored “an anti-American sentiment, but rather an anti-imperialist sentiment.”

“Cubans have always understood that subtle difference,” said Eusebio Leal, adding that many things connect both peoples in history and culture.

Leal, who was part of the delegation that traveled to Washington, DC for the July 20th opening of the Cuban Embassy, said that while the normalization of relations is “necessary,” the two countries still face “a long process to clarify a series of unresolved questions.”

“We, the aggrieved party – because the U.S. blockade is still intact – were the first to go there and raise our flag,” Leal said, calling for a bilateral relationship based on “mutual respect” and equality.

He said that with the restoration of diplomatic ties, the two countries embark now on a second phase of “infinite steps.”