U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro sat down for a meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas on Saturday, a highly anticipated event that signals both sides' desire to work toward normalizing diplomatic relations.
"It was my belief it was time to try something new, that it was important for us to engage with Cuban government," The Associated Press reported Obama saying shortly after the meeting.
Raul Castro noted that the two countries have "agreed to disagree," on certain points, but that Cuba is prepared to discuss issues such as freedom of the press and human rights moving forward, in a bid to "make progress."
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The talk was the highest-level meeting between the U.S. and Cuba since Vice President Richard Nixon and Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro met in April 1959. Obama and Raul Castro had already given several nods toward the meeting at the summit; the two shook hands on Friday night, and each called for cooperation between their countries in speeches at the summit.
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