With Mandela's message of reconciliation hanging over the ceremony,
Castro smiled as Obama shook his hand on the way to the podium to make a rousing
speech in memory of the former South African president, one of the world's
greatest peacemakers, who died on Thursday aged 95.
Tens of thousands of
singing and dancing mourners braved hours of torrential rain at Johannesburg's
Soccer City as 90-odd world dignitaries filed into the stadium.
The crowd
emitted a huge roar as Obama took his seat, in marked contrast to the boos that
greeted South African President Jacob Zuma, a scandal-plagued leader whose
weaknesses have been cast into sharp relief by Mandela's death.
Zimbabwean
leader Robert Mugabe also received wide applause.
Obama chided leaders who
were quick to claim solidarity with Mandela's struggle with oppression and
injustice, but did not allow freedom in their own countries.
"There are too
many of us who happily embrace Madiba's legacy of racial reconciliation, but
passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and
growing inequality," he said.
"There are too many leaders who claim
solidarity with Madiba's struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from
their own people," he said.
Relations between Cuba and the United States have
been frozen since soon after Cuba's 1959 revolution led by Raul's brother Fidel
Castro, and Washington has maintained economic sanctions on the communist-ruled
island for more than half a century.
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