Arguably the world's most famous US embassy, this modernist seven-story building on the Malecón with its high security fencing first opened in 1953, but it closed abruptly in 1961 when the US and Cuba cut diplomatic relations. It reopened as the US Interests Section, set up by the Carter administration in 1977, and in July 2015 it was rebranded an embassy thanks to the political thaw instigated by the Obama administration.
In 2018 most of the staff were withdrawn due to a mysterious wave of alleged 'sonic attacks.'
The embassy faces the Plaza Tribuna Anti-Imperialista (also known as Plaza de la Dignidad), once a site of major protests directed against the US. The mass of flagpoles was put up by the Cubans to block out an electronic message board mounted on the former Interests Section that flashed up messages, or propaganda, depending on which side of the fence you're on (!).
