<Tr> <Th> Ambassador José Rodríguez </Th> <Td> Chargé d'affaires Philip Goldberg </Td> </Tr> <P> Cuba and the United States restored diplomatic relations on 20 July 2015, which had been severed in 1961 during the Cold War . U.S. diplomatic representation in Cuba is handled by the United States Embassy in Havana, and there is a similar Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C. . The United States, however, continues to maintain its commercial, economic, and financial embargo, which makes it illegal for U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba . Leaders in both houses of Congress as well as President Donald Trump support the embargo, although the Cuban government has called for it to be repealed . </P> <P> The hold of the Spanish Empire on possessions in the Americas was reduced in the 1820s as a result of the Spanish American wars of independence; only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule until the Spanish--American War (1898) that resulted from the Cuban War of Independence . Under the Treaty of Paris, Cuba became a U.S. protectorate; the U.S. gained a position of economic and political dominance over the island, which persisted after it became formally independent in 1902 . </P> <P> Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, bilateral relations deteriorated substantially . In 1961, the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Cuba and began pursuing covert operations to topple the Communist regime . Moreover, the U.S. imposed and subsequently tightened a comprehensive set of restrictions and bans vis - à - vis the Cuban regime as retaliation for the nationalization of U.S. corporations' property by Cuba . Meanwhile, several organizations, including a nearly unanimous United Nations General Assembly, have called for "an end to the United States' decades - long economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba ." </P>

When did cuba become a protectorate of the us