BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The unprecedented face-to-face talks between Barack Obama and Raul Castro has eased, if not ended, decades of Cold War-era antagonism in efforts to restore diplomatic ties.
Their meeting lasted more than an hour. And it was the climax to their surprise announcement on December 17th that, after 18 months of secret negotiations, they would seek to normalize relations between their two nations.
The Seventh Summit of the Americas comes just four months after the United States and Cuba announced plans to restore diplomatic relations.
It started with a cordial handshake, as US President Barack Obama greeted his Cuban counterpart, President Raul Castro.
Then came this historic meeting during a break in proceedings, the first time in more than 50 years that a US and Cuban leader have held face-to-face talks.
"I think we are now in a position on a path toward the future, and leave behind some of the circumstances of the past," Obama said. "I think that the fundamentals which the President expressed to you are the same as what we think," Castro said.
Barack Obama wasn't born when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 and formed an alliance with the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war.
But Washington's attempts to isolate Cuba by breaking off diplomatic relations and imposing a trade embargo has ended up isolating the US instead.
By re-establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba, President Obama is also looking to rebuild relations across the continent.
"This shift in US policy represents a turning point for our entire region. The fact that President Castro and I are both sitting here today marks an historic occasion. It's the first time in more than half a century that all the nations of the Americas are meeting to address our future together," Obama said.
Raul Castro may not have the charisma of his elder brother Fidel, but his speech was impassioned and emotional laying out Cuba's long history of grievances against the United States. But then he absolved Obama of responsibility for the past.
"I ask his forgiveness because President Obama had nothing to do with any of this. In my opinion President Obama is an honest man," said Castro.
Despite the change of policy and attitude toward Cuba, several of the region's leaders used the summit to criticize President Obama and the United States.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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