President Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro passed each other in a crowd and stopped to shake hands Friday night at the Summit of the Americas in Panama. Obama spoke briefly with Castro, with whom he is expected to meet on Saturday.
The president is pressing for normalization of relations with Cuba. Castro, however, has made removal from the terrorist-sponsor list a condition for the opening of a U.S. embassy in Havana and has also demanded reparations for economic damage caused by the U.S. embargo of Cuba and the immediate transfer of Guantanamo Bay to the Cuban government.
Not everyone thought this was a great moment of diplomacy for Obama (have there been any?).
Ted Cruz’s communications director pointed out that Cruz, whose father fled the brutal Castro regime to come to the United States, skipped out on a meeting with Castro:
https://twitter.com/amandacarpenter/status/586331343086227456
David Limbaugh thinks that it’s just party politics as usual:
Obama lights up when he meets people higher up in the party than himself :-) MT @MajorCBS: #Handshake w/ #Castro pic.twitter.com/J8KhOOhJg3
— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) April 11, 2015
But least Obama didn’t bow before Castro like he did the Saudi leader. Or did he?
Obama will make history tomorrow in meeting with Raul Castro: http://t.co/Lv39wzbZUd pic.twitter.com/SEjEmUUOxb
— Slate (@Slate) April 10, 2015
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