'Historic time': Obama, Castro to meet Saturday
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President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on Friday exchanged greetings and handshakes at the opening of the Summit of the Americas in Panama. (April 11) AP
PANAMA CITY — Sitting just a few feet from one another, President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro gave heartfelt, starkly different speeches Saturday at the Summit of the Americas.
The speeches were the first official order of the summit's second and final day. Obama and Castro are expected to sit down for substantial talks later Saturday, the first such discussions between leaders of the two nations since 1956.
"We have come together at a historic time," Obama said during his speech. "The United States will not be imprisoned by the past. We're looking to the future."
Castro began his speech by saying he had asked for more than the allotted eight minutes for his discourse since he's been banned from the previous six summits, drawing laughs from the room. In an impassioned speech, Castro at times pounded the table as he recounted previous perceived hostility from the USA stretching back to U.S. intervention during the Cuban War of Independence in 1898, the Platt Amendment, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the ongoing economic embargo.
"None of this is the responsibility of President Obama," Castro said, repeatedly praising the American president. He added: "President Obama is an honest man."
The speeches come on the heels of a historic handshake by the two leaders at the summit late Friday, seen as another step toward defrosting five decades of icy relations between the countries.
The handshake happened as the two leaders arrived at a Panama City convention center for the summit's opening ceremonies, mostly away from journalists' view. But a reporter for a Venezuelan TV network posted video online showing the two greeting each other comfortably with multiple handshakes and small talk, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez looked on.
The White House said the interaction was informal and the leaders didn't engage in substantive conversation. The pair spoke by phone Wednesday to pave the way for more meaningful discourse here.
When the two leaders talk later Saturday, it'll be the most meaningful face-to-face encounter between U.S. and Cuban presidents since Dwight Eisenhower and Fugencio Batista met in 1956 – incidentally at another summit organized by the Organization of American States in Panama.
The White House has said Obama would soon decide whether to remove Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, possibly even at the summit. The president said in Jamaica on Thursday that the State Department has completed its review on the issue but he has yet to receive its recommendation.
Removal from the list after 33 years would allow American banks and businesses to operate in Cuba, and clear an impediment to full diplomatic relations with the United States. If talks at the summit go well, other announcements could include the reopening of embassies and other steps to normalized ties.
The United States and Cuba have been working to restore diplomatic ties since December, when Obama held the first conversation between U.S. and Cuban leaders in more than a half-century as part of the first steps toward normalizing ties.
In late 2013, Obama became the first U.S. president since 2000 to shake hands with a Cuban leader when he exchanged the gesture with Castro as they took seats at a memorial service for Nelson Mandela.
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'Historic time': Obama, Castro to meet Saturday
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President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro on Friday exchanged greetings and handshakes at the opening of the Summit of the Americas in Panama. (April 11) AP
PANAMA CITY — Sitting just a few feet from one another, President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro gave heartfelt, starkly different speeches Saturday at the Summit of the Americas.
The speeches were the first official order of the summit's second and final day. Obama and Castro are expected to sit down for substantial talks later Saturday, the first such discussions between leaders of the two nations since 1956.
"We have come together at a historic time," Obama said during his speech. "The United States will not be imprisoned by the past. We're looking to the future."
Castro began his speech by saying he had asked for more than the allotted eight minutes for his discourse since he's been banned from the previous six summits, drawing laughs from the room. In an impassioned speech, Castro at times pounded the table as he recounted previous perceived hostility from the USA stretching back to U.S. intervention during the Cuban War of Independence in 1898, the Platt Amendment, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the ongoing economic embargo.
"None of this is the responsibility of President Obama," Castro said, repeatedly praising the American president. He added: "President Obama is an honest man."
The speeches come on the heels of a historic handshake by the two leaders at the summit late Friday, seen as another step toward defrosting five decades of icy relations between the countries.
The handshake happened as the two leaders arrived at a Panama City convention center for the summit's opening ceremonies, mostly away from journalists' view. But a reporter for a Venezuelan TV network posted video online showing the two greeting each other comfortably with multiple handshakes and small talk, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez looked on.
The White House said the interaction was informal and the leaders didn't engage in substantive conversation. The pair spoke by phone Wednesday to pave the way for more meaningful discourse here.
When the two leaders talk later Saturday, it'll be the most meaningful face-to-face encounter between U.S. and Cuban presidents since Dwight Eisenhower and Fugencio Batista met in 1956 – incidentally at another summit organized by the Organization of American States in Panama.
The White House has said Obama would soon decide whether to remove Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, possibly even at the summit. The president said in Jamaica on Thursday that the State Department has completed its review on the issue but he has yet to receive its recommendation.
Removal from the list after 33 years would allow American banks and businesses to operate in Cuba, and clear an impediment to full diplomatic relations with the United States. If talks at the summit go well, other announcements could include the reopening of embassies and other steps to normalized ties.
The United States and Cuba have been working to restore diplomatic ties since December, when Obama held the first conversation between U.S. and Cuban leaders in more than a half-century as part of the first steps toward normalizing ties.
In late 2013, Obama became the first U.S. president since 2000 to shake hands with a Cuban leader when he exchanged the gesture with Castro as they took seats at a memorial service for Nelson Mandela.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1FKQFQP
USA NOW
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Apr 11, 2015
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