article_snippet.sent: And while the two nations' top leaders proclaimed progress had been made, a key stumbling block -- Cuba's place on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terror -- remained unresolved.
article_snippet.sent: Castro, who earlier in the day said President Obama trusted President Obama, acknowledged there would be difficult stumbling blocks as Cuba works to repair ties with the United States.
article_snippet.sent: But President Obama said President Obama hadn't yet decided whether to remove Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terror, an outcome that had previously been expected during the summit.
article_snippet.sent: The State Department provided President Obama with a review of the terror status this week.
article_snippet.sent: But in terms of the overall direction of Cuba policy, I think there is a strong majority both in the United States and in Cuba that says we ability to engage, to open up commerce and travel and people to people exchanges is ultimately going to be good for Cuban people.
article_snippet.sent: That exhortation, however, seemed to be lost on Castro himself, who expanded what was meant to be a six-minute speech into a 50-minute address lecturing leaders on Cuba's revolution and giving a litany of perceived grievances to Cuba over the past 50 years.
article_snippet.sent: In my opinion, President Obama in an honest man," Castro said through an interpreter.
article_snippet.sent: I admire Castro, and I think Castro behavior has a lot to do with Castro humble background.
article_snippet.sent: A U.S. administration official said Castro's long list of grievances was expected, despite the move toward diplomatic ties.
article_snippet.sent: (What's) unique and new is what Castro said about President Obama in an honest man," A U.S. administration official said of Castro's praise for President Obama.
article_snippet.sent: President Obama announced in December that President Obama was seeking to renew diplomatic relations with Cuba after half a century of strife, including eventually opening embassies in Washington and Havana.
article_snippet.sent: The reason we're here is because President Obama in an honest man strongly believes that an approach that was focused entirely on isolation, focused entirely on seeking to cut off the Cuban people from the United States of America had failed.
article_snippet.sent: The overtures to Cuba have not been universally popular in America; some lawmakers were irate that President Obama was seeking to engage what some lawmakers regard as a corrupt government.
article_snippet.sent: A recommendation to remove Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism would represent another significant misstep in a misguided policy," Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat who used to the chair the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in a statement last week.
article_snippet.sent: In Latin America, however, President Obama was receiving a warm welcome after announcing President Obama was seeking to engage Havana in talks over reopening embassies and removing barriers to commerce and travel.
article_snippet.sent: 9 things you wanted to ask about the Cuban embargo .
article_snippet.sent: And President Obama's cast the decision to reopen the U.S. relationship with Cuba as beneficial to the entire hemisphere, which has also embraced President Obama immigration executive action.
article_snippet.sent: Dissidents opposed to Castro's regime were violently accosted last week by supporters of the Cuban government, a scuffle the White House said was unacceptable.
article_snippet.sent: As we move toward the process of normalization, we'll have we differences, government to government, with Cuba on many issues -- just as we differ at times with other nations within the Americas, just as we differ with we closest allies," President Obama said at a meeting of civil society leaders Friday.
article_snippet.sent: The long history between the U.S. and Cuba .