US President Barack Obama and Cuba’s Raul Castro have shaken hands at the Summit of the Americas, a new milestone in efforts to shed decades of animosity between the two countries. The two leaders — who briefly shook hands once before at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg in 2013 — exchanged a few words on Friday as Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, and regional leaders looked on, before taking their seats at a Panama City Convention Centre.
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 that a Cuban leader attended the summit in its 21-year history. A US official characterised the Obama-Castro greeting as an “informal interaction”, adding that “there was not a substantive conversation between the two leaders.” A widely anticipated broader conversation — the first between US and Cuban leaders since ties broke in 1961 — is expected on Saturday.
“The presence here today of President Raul Castro of Cuba embodies a longing expressed by many in the region,” Ban said. Obama and Castro had already discussed the ongoing negotiations and the summit by telephone on Wednesday — their second phone call since December, when they announced that the US and Cuba would move to normalise relations. While declaring that the days of US meddling in the region were over, Obama promised civil society representatives that “the United States will stand up alongside you every step of the way.” 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.” The US and Cuba know how to hold a grudge. When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, relations between the two countries quickly devolved into bitter arguments, political grandstanding and the occasional international crisis. And while Cuba lies less than 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Florida, the two nations have had no diplomatic relations since 1961 and used Switzerland as a mediator whenever they needed to talk.
On December 17, 2014, US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced the beginning of a process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States, which media sources have named “the Cuban Thaw.” Negotiated in secret in Canada and Vatican City over preceding months, and with the assistance of Pope Francis, the agreement would see the lifting of some US travel restrictions, fewer restrictions on remittances, US banks access to the Cuban financial system, and the establishment of a US embassy in Havana, which was closed after Cuba became closely allied with the USSR in 1961.
It is our hope that the recent handshakes represent a further thawing of US-Cuba relations — to the satisfaction of ordinary Cubans and Americans alike. We would, however, like to see the developments in Cuba and Iran as hopeful signs to make the world more friendly for coexistence and peace.
