Just past the stroke of midnight, the two countries reached a new milestone in the historic thaw that began with a breakthrough announcement by US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on Dec. 17.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez will preside around 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) over the raising of the Cuban flag for the first time in 54 years over a mansion that will again serve as Havana's embassy in Washington.
The hugely symbolic event will be followed by a meeting at the State Department between Secretary of State John Kerry and Rodriguez, the first Cuban foreign minister on an official visit to Washington since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.