SOWETO (South Africa): US President Barack Obama on Tuesday shook hands with Raul Castro, leader of long-time Cold War foe Cuba, at the memorial service in South Africa for Nelson Mandela. Obama offered the handshake before taking the stage to give his speech at the ceremony, in a new sign of his willingness to reach out to enemies, a US official said.

The United States maintains a five-decade-old embargo against the communist island nation, which Havana says has cost the economy $1.1 trillion.

The handshake was seen by millions around the world watching the memorial being broadcast live and comes as Obama tries to make good on his vow to reach out even to the most implacable of US foes.

In September, the US leader spoke by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in the first such gesture since the 1979 revolution.

Cuba and the United States have had only limited ties for half a century, most of it under the iron fist rule of Raul’s brother Fidel Castro.

Washington has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for half a century, and the fate of the communist state is a bitter issue in US domestic politics.

Vehemently anti-Castro Cuban-Americans make up a sizable portion of voters and political donors in Florida, a battleground state where US presidential elections can be won or lost.

As a presidential candidate Obama was pilloried as naive and dangerous by rivals from both parties for suggesting that as president he would be willing to talk to foes without preconditions.

The president was careful to pointedly call out oppressive leaders in his speech on Tuesday, with Raul Castro just feet away.

“There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s (Mandela’s clan name) struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people,” he said, stabbing his finger in the air.

It is unclear if Tuesday’s gesture will significantly thaw relations. In 2000, then president Bill Clinton shook the hand of Fidel Castro at the UN General Assembly in New York.

There was no picture of the moment and the White House initially denied it had occurred.—AFP