Obama Meets With Cuban Strongman Raul Castro, Launches New Era of US-Cuba Ties
by News Editor
President Obama and Cuban strongman Raul Castro. Photo: White House.
Ending a decades-long standstill in U.S.-Cuba relations, President Barack Obama met for an hour Saturday with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, the first time the two nations’ top leaders have sat down for substantive talks in more than 50 years.
The meeting in a small conference room on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas came as the two countries work to end the Cold War enmity that had led to a total freeze of diplomatic ties. And while both leaders proclaimed progress had been made, a key stumbling block — Cuba’s place on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terror — remained unresolved.
