Soweto
(South Africa) (AFP) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday shook hands
with Raul Castro, leader of America's Cold War foe Cuba, in a rare
gesture at the memorial service in South Africa for Nelson Mandela.
Obama offered the handshake before taking the stage to eulogise Mandela,
but minutes…
Obama shakes hands with Cuba's Castro at Mandela memorial
By Stephen Collinson
1 hour ago
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Soweto (South Africa) (AFP) - President Barack Obama on
Tuesday shook hands with Raul Castro, leader of America's Cold War foe
Cuba, in a rare gesture at the memorial service in South Africa for
Nelson Mandela.
Obama
offered the handshake before taking the stage to eulogise Mandela, but
minutes later, made a clear swipe at states like Cuba, saying those who
proclaim Mandela's legacy must honour its meaning by easing curbs on
freedom.
The handshake between Obama and the brother who took over
the duties of longtime Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was seen by millions
around the world on live television and was confirmed by a senior US
official to AFP.
The Cuban government hailed it as a hopeful sign,
writing on its website: "May this... be the beginning of the end of the
US aggressions?"
But it remained unclear whether it would presage a meaningful thaw in relations across the shark-infested waters off Cuba.
It
comes as Obama seeks to live up to his campaign promise made in 2007 to
reach out directly to US enemies as president -- and after he spoke by
phone to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in September.
Raul Castro (uncer umbrella) arrives for Nelson Mandela's memorial service at the Soccer City st …
The United States maintains a five-decades-old embargo against
the communist island nation, which Havana says has cost the economy $1.1
trillion and have only limited ties owing to the iron-fisted rule of
the Castros.
Obama is likely to face some domestic backlash from his gesture, as Cuba is a fiercely divisive issue in US politics.
Vehemently
anti-Castro Cuban-Americans make up a sizable portion of voters and
political donors in Florida, a battleground state where US presidential
elections can be won or lost.
Obama's clear jab at states like
Cuba, which claim kinship with Mandela but do not follow the example of a
man who forgave his enemies and built a pluralistic state, may have
been intended to insulate him from some domestic criticism.
"There
are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba's struggle for
freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people," Obama said,
stabbing his finger in the air in the rain-sodden stadium hosting the
event.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (left) shakes hands with Cuba's President Raul Castro Ruz (2nd …
As a presidential candidate, Obama was pilloried as naive and
dangerous by rivals from both parties for suggesting that as president
he would be willing to talk to foes without preconditions.
As he
ran for reelection, Obama's success in tracking down and killing Osama
bin Laden and a fearsome drone war largely insulated him from
allegations of weakness in foreign and security policy.
But the
interim nuclear deal between US and world powers reached last month and
his decision to call off 11th-hour military strikes on Syria over the
use of chemical weapons have revived opposition attacks over his foreign
policy spine.
It was unclear whether Tuesday's gesture would
significantly thaw relations. In 2000, then president Bill Clinton shook
the hand of Fidel Castro at the UN General Assembly in New York.
There was no picture of the moment and the White House initially denied it had occurred.
Havana
and Washington have not had diplomatic relations since 1961, two years
after Fidel Castro came to power in the Cuban revolution.
Tensions
have eased since Obama took office, with both countries reaching a
series of agreements seen as confidence-building measures including
cooperation on air and maritime rescue and migration issues.
In 2011 Obama eased restrictions on visas, remittances and travel.
The
move was designed to expand religious and educational travel, allow any
airport to offer charter flights to the country and restore cultural
initiatives suspended by the previous Bush administration.
Talks are under way to resume a direct postal service between the two countries.
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