US and Cuba reach deal to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana

The United States and Cuba have reached a deal to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana, a US source said, in a major step toward ending decades of cold war enmity.

"We will formally announce tomorrow that the United States and Cuba have reached an agreement to re-establish formal diplomatic relations and open embassies in each other's capitals," the source said on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama was expected to issue a statement in the White House Rose Garden about the deal, which constitutes one of the major foreign policy achievements of his presidency.

Diplomatic ties have been frozen for five decades. From the Bay of Pigs invasion to the Cuban missile crisis, antagonism across the Straits of Florida often threatened to turn the cold war hot.

But after 18 months of secret negotiations by aides, Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in December to restore relations. The pair held a historic first meeting in Panama in April.

In May, the United States paved the way for rapprochement by taking Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.