US and Cuba start to heal wounds

In a small conference room in a Panama City convention centre, the two sat side by side in a bid to inject fresh momentum into their months-old effort to restore diplomatic ties.

Reflecting on the historic nature of the meeting, Mr Obama said he felt it was time to try something new and to engage with both Cuba’s government and its people.

“What we have both concluded is that we can disagree with a spirit of respect and civility,” he said. “And over time it is possible for us to turn the page and develop a new relationship between our two countries.”

President Castro, for his part, said he agreed with everything Mr Obama had said – a stunning statement in itself for the Cuban leader. But he added the caveat that they had “agreed to disagree” at times.

Mr Castro said he had told the Americans that Cuba was willing to discuss issues such as human rights and freedom of the Press, maintaining that “everything can be on the table”.

“We are disposed to talk about everything – with patience,” he said in Spanish. “Some things we will agree with and others we won’t.”

Not since 1958 have a US and Cuban leader convened a substantial meeting. Then, Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House and Fulgencio Batista in charge in Cuba. But relations quickly entered into a deep freeze amid the Cold War and the US spent decades trying to either isolate or actively overthrow the Cuban government.

By coincidence, Eisenhower’s meeting with Batista also took place in Panama, imbuing the session between Mr Obama and Mr Castro with a sense of having come full circle.

The historic gathering played out on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas, which this year included Cuba for the first time. Although the meeting was not announced publicly in advance, White House aides had suggested the two leaders were looking for an opportunity to meet while in Panama and to discuss efforts to open embassies in Havana and Washington, among other issues.

At the start of their hour-long meeting, Mr Obama acknowledged that Cuba, too, would continue raising concerns about US policies – earning a friendly smirk from Mr Castro. Mr Obama described the meeting later as “candid and fruitful” and said he and Mr Castro were able to speak about their differences in a productive way.

Nevertheless, earlier in the day Mr Castro, in a meandering, nearly hour-long speech to the summit, ran through an exhaustive history of perceived Cuban grievances against the US dating back more than a century.