EDITOR'S NOTE — When the United States severed its diplomatic relationship with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961, it kicked off a year in which CIA-funded counterrevolutionaries would try to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, and after that, the withdrawal or ouster of almost all American and European media from the island, including The Associated Press' American staff.
Isaac M. Flores was the first American AP reporter allowed back into Cuba, in 1965. He said the lack of diplomatic ties and tense relationship between the U.S. and Cuba in those days made reporting all the more difficult. He had to contend with officials who would summon him to their offices after he wrote something they didn't agree with and threaten to revoke his visa. But in an interview from his home in Winter Park, Fla., Flores said he never believed that the schism between the two formerly interdependent countries would last forever.
"When I was in Cuba, I knew it couldn't continue," Flores said. "In the back of my mind, I always knew it was a temporary thing. My first thought (when the resumption of diplomatic relations was announced) was that it's about time."
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WASHINGTON — The United States broke off diplomatic relations tonight with the left-leaning, boisterous regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba.
The break came at 8:30 p.m. EST when President Eisenhower issued a statement saying:
"There is a limit to what the United States in self respect can endure. That limit has now been reached."
The dramatic announcement severed relations that have existed since the turn of the century when the United States went to war and helped the Caribbean island win its independence from Spain.