New era of US-Cuba ties
Apr 12
US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro met on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama last night. It was the first formal talks between the leaders of the two countries in half a century, and the first full meeting since the historic thaw began in December. Earlier, addressing the summit, the US President described the thaw as a turning point. At the beginning of his session with Castro, Obama said, this is obviously an historic meeting.
He said that decades of strain had done little to benefit either Cubans or citizens of the United States. He also said that immediate tasks include normalising diplomatic relationships between the two countries and opening a US embassy in Havana and a Cuban embassy in Washington DC.
In his address, the Cuban President called for the lifting of the US economic blockade on Cuba, in place since 1959. After a speech largely taken up with the history of US-Cuba relations, Castro described Obama an honest man.
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