Will A Handshake Lead To Better U.S.-Cuba Relations?

By Krishnadev Calamur

 AP

In everyday life, a handshake is rather ordinary. But when President Obama shook hands Tuesday with Cuban leader Raul Castro at a memorial service for the late South African President Nelson Mandela, this was how it was described:

-- "a simple gesture that signaled possible thawing between the leaders of the two Cold War foes"

-- "an unprecedented gesture"

-- "perhaps a deliberate seizing of the moment to edge forward the prospect of a thaw in relations ... after more than half a century of hostility"

-- "a symbolic gesture that came after decades of estranged U.S.-Cuba relations"

Despite Tuesday's handshake, Obama told mourners in Johannesburg that "too many who claim solidarity with Madiba's [Mandela's tribe name] struggle for freedom ... do not tolerate dissent from their own people." It was an apparent reference to Castro and leaders of other nondemocratic nations gathered at the service.

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