White House says Obama-Castro handshake 'not planned'
December 11, 2013  01:49

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro's handshake at Nelson Mandela's memorial service was unplanned, the White House has said. White House aide Ben Rhodes told reporters the two exchanged no words more substantive than a greeting. The Cuban government said the gesture may show the "beginning of the end of the US aggressions".

 

The US broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961 as Fidel Castro aligned with the Soviet Union in the Cold War. And on Tuesday after the handshake, a White House official said the Obama administration still had grave concerns about human rights violations in Cuba, Reuters reported.

 

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