New Delhi: US President Barack Obama had offered a friendly gesture with President of Cuba, Raul Castro and shook hands with him on Tuesday. Notify that Cuba is one of America’s most enduring Cold War foes.
The brief handshake was delivered with the world watching as Obama greeted leaders assembled to make remarks at the memorial service here for Nelson Mandela.
A question has been raised instantly after the image for its deeper meaning. The main question which rose was Obama trying to signal a new effort by the US government to reach an accommodation with Cuba 50 years after the Communist revolution that put Fidel Castro, Raul’s brother, in power? Or was Obama simply trying to avoid delivering a diplomatic snub at a memorial dedicated to forgiveness?
The president’s aides would have known in advance which world leaders would be at the podium when the president approached for his own remarks. But White House officials declined to offer any explanation of the handshake or confirm that there had been a discussion about whether to offer one.
Still, Obama’s own remarks, delivered just moments afterward, offer tantalizing possibilities about what was going through the president’s mind when he approached Castro.
Obama talked about the need for trust and reconciliation and forgiveness. He was talking about Mandela – widely known by his clan name, Madiba – but his remarks might also apply to the diplomatically frozen relationship between the United States and Cuba.
Obama said, “It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner but the jailer as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you.”
Obama also added, “to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.”
At the memorial, UP President said, “South Africa shows we can change, that we can choose a world defined not by our differences but by our common hopes”. “We can choose a world defined not by conflict but by peace and justice and opportunity.”
The question is whether Obama was trying to signal a desire to change hearts by shaking Castro’s hand. If so, the Cuban president would become the latest adversary that Obama has sought to turn into a friend – or at least a less dangerous opponent. Effort of Barack Obama to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is another example.
Bureau Report
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