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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — President Barack Obama has shaken hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at a memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela.
The handshake between the leaders of the two Cold War enemies came during a ceremony that’s focused on Mandela’s legacy of reconciliation. Obama was greeting a line of world leaders and heads of state attending the memorial in Johannesburg. Among those he greeted was Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who has clashed with Obama over alleged National Security Agency spying.
The U.S. and Cuba have recently taken small steps toward rapprochement, raising hopes the two nations could be on the verge of a breakthrough in relations. But skeptics caution that the two countries have shown signs of a thaw in the past, only to fall back into old recriminations.
Obama praised Nelson Mandela as the last great liberator of the 20th century, urging the world to carry on his legacy by fighting inequality, poverty and discrimination.
“For nothing he achieved was inevitable,” Obama said. “In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness, persistence and faith. He tells us what’s possible not just in the pages of dusty history books, but in our own lives as well.”
The crowd at the half-filled stadium erupted in applause each time Obama’s name was mentioned or his image was shown on the screen. Dozens gathered below the box seats where Obama and other U.S. presidents sat, waving and snapping pictures of the leaders.
In 2009, Obama made waves when he shook hands with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, a strident critic of the United States, at the Summit of the Americas.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12...dela-memorial/
mi nuh watch it yet
Mi kno seh sih missi did well vex. Bet shi naa invite him fi visit anytime soon 
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