President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shared small talk and several handshakes on Friday night ahead of the Summit of the Americas' opening ceremonies. The small gesture has big implications; officials expect the pair to sit down and discuss improving diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba on Saturday. Such a meeting would be the highest-level U.S.-Cuba talks since Vice President Richard Nixon and Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro met in April 1959.
Obama championed the move toward normalized relations in a speech to civil society groups, including Cuban dissidents.
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