Latin America celebrates push by Obama, Castro to heal US-Cuba rift

As Latin American leaders applaud a historic thawing of animosity between the United States and Cuba, U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Raul Castro for talks on April 11 that could further boost his reputation in the region. 

Obama and the Cuban president shook hands and spoke briefly at the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas on Friday night, a gesture that drew praise from other leaders who have in recent years called for changes in U.S. policy on Cuba. 

Even Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, toned down his usual anti-American rhetoric to hail the rapprochement as well as Cuba's attendance at the summit for the first time. 

"The fact that Cuba is here is the greatest achievement of Latin America and the Caribbean," said Maduro, who this week appeared to soften his stance toward Washington after a recent surge in tension. 

"When Raul sat in that chair, which belongs to Cuba, 60 years of revolution sat down. Fidel sat down," he added, referring to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who handed over power to his younger brother Raul in 2008. 

Obama, 53, who was not even born when the Castro brothers swept to power in a 1959 revolution, assured Latin American leaders that the United States was no longer interested in trying to impose its will on the region. 

Earlier on April 10, Obama met with opposition activists from across Latin America, including two Cubans, but there was very little media access to the session, curbing publicity of an encounter that could have annoyed Castro's communist government. 

Obama and Castro were not seated together at a dimly-lit, open air dinner amid ruins in Panama City's historic quarter on April 10 night and journalists briefly allowed in for...