Panama City: Handshakes, smiles and a more than hour-long candid chat: Barack Obama and Raul Castro broke the ice in a cordial atmosphere after a half-century of hostile US-Cuban ties.
The tall, 53-year-old American president and the short, 83-year-old former guerrilla fighter sat in polished, wooden chairs turned toward each other in a room with a blue carpet inside a Panama City convention center on Saturday.
Formal in their dark suits and ties, they were separated by a round coffee table with three white roses, as TV crews and photographers captured the historic moment.
Behind them, there were no flags, just the symbol of the Summit of the Americas: Two red and blue peace doves united by an olive branch.
Obama spoke first, thanking Castro for his "spirit of openness" during their talks. The Cuban leader then said he did not "want to abuse the time" of the president after hours of summit speeches.
They shook hands twice. Castro smiled when Obama mentioned a speech the Cuban leader gave moments before at the 35-nation Summit of the Americas. Obama laughed when Castro said their delegations better listen to their instructions.
While both leaders stressed that their governments would continue to disagree on many issues, they struck conciliatory tones.
Obama thanked Castro for this "spirit of openness and courtesy."
Earlier, Castro had told some 30 other regional leaders at the summit that Obama was "an honest man."
It was a stunning statement coming from Castro, whose brother and retired leader Fidel tussled with 10 other US presidents during decades of Cold War confrontations.
It was also the first time that a Cuban leader was invited to the summit in its 21-year history.While the bespectacled Raul Castro lacks the charisma of his older brother, he drew laughs when he cracked a joke before his summit speech.
"I was told at the start that I could make an eight-minute speech," he told the seventh Summit of the Americas. "Since you owe me seven summits from which you excluded me, it`s six times eight, 48."
The last time US and Cuban presidents met like this was in 1956, when Dwight Eisenhower held talks with Fulgencio Batista, also in Panama.
Three years later, in 1959, Fidel and Raul`s band of bearded guerrillas ousted Batista and aligned with the Soviet Union.
The United States and Cuba broke relations in 1961, the year Obama was born.
More than a half-century later, Castro and Obama stunned the world when they announced on December 17 that they would seek to restore diplomatic ties, the culmination of 18 months of secret negotiations.
They had briefly shaken hands in December 2013, at late South African president Nelson Mandela`s funeral.
They spoke on the phone before their December announcement and again on Wednesday, setting the stage for their landmark meeting, a previously unimaginable event.
"It was a candid and fruitful conversation," Obama said after the meeting, stressing that he did not shy away from reminding Castro that Washington would keep voicing concerns about the state of human rights on the island.
Castro aired his own concerns, but held back from the more fiery rhetoric of his brother as he demanded an end to the US embargo, saying the policy was not Obama`s doing.
"But when I say that I agree with everything that the president has just said, I include that we have agreed to disagree," Castro said.
"We hope that our closest aides -- part of them are here with us today -- we hope that they will follow the instructions of both presidents," he said.
Reporters were then ushered out of the room to let the two leaders and their advisors speak privately.
