Cuba-US Relations Cold War foes meet face to face in Panama
| Castro and Obama shake hands at historic summit as pair seek to restore ties
US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro, have shaken hands at a historic summit of the Americas in Panama, marking a major milestone in their efforts to end decades of animosity.
Obama and Castro nodded and smiled as they greeted one another and exchanged pleasantries, watched by Ban Kimoon, UN secretary-general.
It was the first such interaction between the two men in two years, and one of the only times that the leaders of the US and Cuba have spoken to one another in more than a half century.
The encounter was highly anticipated at the summit — the first that all 35 nations have attended.
The sight of Obama and Castro in the same room instantly became a potent symbol of their bid to renew diplomatic ties that were severed in 1961. It was the first time in the 21-year history of the summit that a Cuban leader had attended.
Obama and Castro met once before, when they shook hands at Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December 2013.
The last US and Cuban leaders to meet were Dwight Eisenhower and dictator Fulencio Batista in 1956, three years before Fidel Castro’s revolution.
Obama adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters that when they met over the weekend, the two leaders would “take stock” of negotiations to normalise relations and reopen embassies, as well as discuss lingering “differences”.
He said they had spoken by telephone on Wednesday.
In a move that could irritate Havana, Obama held a closeddoor discussion before the summit with dissident lawyer Laritza Diversent and political activist Manuel Cuesta Moura, along with a dozen other ac- tivists from the Americas.
While declaring the days of US meddling in the region were over, the first African American president of the US launched a markedly personal defence of Washington’s support of opposition groups.
“We’ve stood up, at great cost, for freedom and human dignity, not just in our own country, but elsewhere. I’m proud of that,” Obama said, citing the US civilrights movement.
Turning to Cuba, Obama said that even as “a new chapter” in relations was launched, “we’ll have our differences, government to government, with Cuba on many issues.”
But Rhodes said there was no decision yet on one of the key obstacles in diplomatic negotiations, Cuba’s presence on the US blacklist of state sponsors of terror. “I’m not ruling out any announcement but . . . we are not there yet in terms of . . . the president making a determination,” Rhodes said.
Cuba’s presence on the blacklist — which also includes Iran, Sudan and Syria — has been a major sticking point in negotiations to reopen embassies.
Cuba has other major demands, most importantly that the US Congress lift an embargo that the communist regime blames for the island’s economic troubles. Washington wants Cuba to end restrictions on the movement of its diplomats on the island.
Opinion polls show the reconciliation is backed by most Americans and Cubans.
And even as Obama moves to remove an old source of tension in US relations with Latin America, a new headache has emerged since he imposed sanctions against Venezuelan officials accused of human rights abuses in an opposition crackdown.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Havana’s main ally in the region, will bring a petition with 13.4 million signatures urging Obama to lift his order.
But Washington is seeking to ease tensions, dispatching a senior official this week to meet Maduro in Caracas. — © The DIPLOMATIC BREAKTHROUGH: US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro, shake hands as UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, right, looks on, before the inauguration of the seventh summit of the Americas in Panama
Reconciliation is backed by majorities of Americans and Cubans