0 Historic hands grip between Barack Obama and Raul Castro

Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro greeted each other and exchanged a few words Friday shortly before the opening of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, which will guarantee the merger announced in mid-December between the two enemies of the Cold War. Castro has already called for the lifting of the embargo against his country.

 

barack obama and raul castro

 

The reconciliation is running. Barack Obama and Raul Castro made ​​a first gesture of appeasement Friday during a handshake will become history. They then exchanged words shortly before the opening of the Summit of the Americas in Panama, which will guarantee the thaw announced mid-December between the two enemies of the Cold War.

"Tonight at the Summit of the Americas, President Obama and President Castro are greeted and shook hands," reported Bernadette Meehan, a spokesman for the White House. A source close to the US delegation said there was no "substantial conversations" between the two men, who had already shaken hands in December 2013 in Johannesburg, on the sidelines of Nelson Mandela's funeral.


Castro calls for a lifting of the embargo


The presence of the two men at the summit, which brings together for two days thirty heads of state, must crown warming announced after 18 months of negotiations conducted in great secrecy. In Panama, it will be the first face-to-face meeting between heads of state of the two countries since 1956.

Raul Castro has called Obama Saturday of "honest man" and wished the lifting of the US embargo against his country, also asking "fast decision" in Washington on removing Cuba from the US list of countries supporting terrorism. "President Obama is an honest man," said the Cuban president, adding that he considered the question of the embargo imposed since 1962 on Cuba by the United States "must be resolved." A "fast decision" that he would see as a "positive step" a "fast decision"

The new US policy toward Cuba "a turning point for the entire region", said for his part the US president, saying that "the fact that the president (Raul) Castro and I are sitting here today represents a historic event. " But he has still not made a decision on the withdrawal of Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, posed as a prerequisite for Havana restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.