article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Ending a decades-long standstill in U.S.-Cuba relations, President Obama met for an hour Saturday with President Obama Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, the first time the two nations' top leaders have sat down for substantive talks in more than 50 years.
article_snippet.sent: The meeting in a small conference room on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas the Americas in Panama came as the United States and Cuba work to end The Cold War enmity that had led to a total freeze of diplomatic ties.
article_snippet.sent: This is obviously an historic meeting," President Obama said at the beginning of President Obama session with Castro, claiming that decades of strain had done little to benefit either Cubans or citizens of the United States.
article_snippet.sent: Speaking to reporters after his session with CastroCastro, President Obama said the meeting was "candid and fruitful" and could prove to be a "turning point" in President Obama push to defrost ties with Cuba.
article_snippet.sent: On Friday night, President Obama and Castro greeted each other courteously amid an explosion of camera flashes, shaking hands before dining at the inaugural session of the conference.
article_snippet.sent: Before President Obama arrived in Panama on Wednesday, President Obama spoke with Castro by phone, laying the groundwork for what will become a new era of relations between the neighboring countries.
article_snippet.sent: President Obama set to test engagement doctrine with Cuba in Panama .
article_snippet.sent: President Obama meeting with Castro on Saturday isn't being billed as a formal bilateral session, but President Obama's aides are still characterizing the event as the highest-level engagement with Cuba since then-Vice President Richard Nixon met with Castro in 1959.
article_snippet.sent: President Obama noted to applause during a session Friday that this was the first summit with Cuba in attendance.
article_snippet.sent: But even as President Obama landed in Panama, the longstanding gulfs between the two countries' governments were on display.
article_snippet.sent: President Obama closed out President Obama time in Panama with a news conference where President Obama covered topics ranging from Hillary Clinton's expected presidential announcement to President Obama framework deal with Iran on Iran nuclear program.
article_snippet.sent: President Obama goes to #Panama, meets with Castro and attacks me -
highlights_snippet.sent: The thaw in ties has dominated discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Panama .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: The top leaders from the United States and Cuba haven't met for substantive talks in more than 50 years .