Zippyjuan
04-13-2015, 11:34 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/world/americas/obama-cuba-summit-of-the-americas.html?_r=0
Last such meeting was in 1959- before Obama was even born- when VP Richard Nixon met with Fidel Castro.
PANAMA — President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba met here Saturday in the first face-to-face discussion between the leaders of the two countries in a half-century.
Seated beside Mr. Castro in a small room in the convention center downtown where the Summit of the Americas was being held, Mr. Obama called it a “historic meeting.”
“Our governments will continue to have differences,” he said at a news conference wrapping up the summit meeting. “At the same time, we agreed that we can continue to take steps forward that advance our mutual interests.”
He called his meeting with Mr. Castro “candid and fruitful,” and said work would continue on the goal he announced in December of re-establishing diplomatic relations and reopening embassies in Havana and Washington.
Still, Mr. Obama said crucial steps in the normalization process would not be completed rapidly. He stopped short of announcing a final decision, now widely expected, to remove Cuba from the United States’ list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying he wanted to study it further.
More at link.
Last such meeting was in 1959- before Obama was even born- when VP Richard Nixon met with Fidel Castro.
PANAMA — President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba met here Saturday in the first face-to-face discussion between the leaders of the two countries in a half-century.
Seated beside Mr. Castro in a small room in the convention center downtown where the Summit of the Americas was being held, Mr. Obama called it a “historic meeting.”
“Our governments will continue to have differences,” he said at a news conference wrapping up the summit meeting. “At the same time, we agreed that we can continue to take steps forward that advance our mutual interests.”
He called his meeting with Mr. Castro “candid and fruitful,” and said work would continue on the goal he announced in December of re-establishing diplomatic relations and reopening embassies in Havana and Washington.
Still, Mr. Obama said crucial steps in the normalization process would not be completed rapidly. He stopped short of announcing a final decision, now widely expected, to remove Cuba from the United States’ list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying he wanted to study it further.
More at link.