Panama City ( CNN ) This was the handshake that shook the Western Hemisphere . President Obama briefly met his Cuban counterpart , Raul Castro , on Friday night at a dinner for the dozens of Latin American leaders convening in Panama City for the Summit of the Americas . This was historic . The two nations have barely been on speaking terms -- officially -- for more than 50 years . The meeting was so important that Bernadette Meehan , National Security Council spokesperson , issued a statement : `` At the Summit of the Americas this evening , President Obama and President Castro greeted each other and shook hands . '' Cuba and the United States had endured a half-century of enmity , the tension worsened by the two nations being only 90 miles apart . Key events of those years include some of the most traumatic in modern U.S. history , such as the Cuban Missile Crisis , the Bay of Pigs and the Mariel boatlift of 1980 . But the two leaders have been building up to the historic face-to-face . Obama spoke by phone Wednesday with the Cuban leader before heading to Panama . They met Friday at the dinner and are expected to spend a lot more time together on Saturday when the summit begins in earnest . Obama arrived in Panama late Thursday for the conference , which in years past was tinged with animosity at Cuba 's exclusion . Moments after Marine One , Obama 's helicopter , touched down in Panama City , Castro 's plane landed on the same tarmac . Panamanian television carried both arrivals live . During their phone call Wednesday , Obama and Castro discussed the ongoing process of normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba , according to Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes . He said it `` made sense '' for the two leaders to communicate before their anticipated interactions Friday and Saturday . Those run-ins will represent the highest-level talks between the United States and Cuba since a meeting between then-Vice President Richard Nixon and then-Prime Minister Fidel Castro in 1959 . `` We 're in new territory here , '' Rhodes said on Friday . `` The reason we 're here is that the President strongly believes that an approach that was focused totally on isolation , focused totally on seeking to cut off the Cuban people from the United States of America had failed . '' Obama was expecting a warm welcome from the dozens of countries represented at the conference , after announcing in December he was seeking to engage Havana in talks over reopening embassies and removing barriers to commerce and travel . In Panama , Obama is expected to announce he 's removing Cuba from the United States ' list of countries that sponsor terrorism , a major advance in building diplomatic ties between the two countries . The State Department delivered its report on the designation to the White House on Wednesday ; Obama said on Thursday a panel of experts was reviewing it before he makes a final determination . The White House is n't ruling out a final decision before Obama leaves Panama late Saturday night . In remarks during a brief stopover in Jamaica on Thursday , Obama strongly hinted he was ready to remove Cuba from the list , which also includes Iran , Sudan and Syria . `` Throughout this process , our emphasis has been on the facts , '' Obama said . `` So we want to make sure that given that this is a powerful tool to isolate those countries that genuinely do support terrorism , that when we make those designations we 've got strong evidence that , in fact , that 's the case . '' `` As circumstances change , then that list will change as well , '' he said . While some inside Cuba have expressed dissatisfaction at the pace of the diplomatic thaw , U.S. officials say they 're pleased at the progress toward re-establishing diplomatic ties , which the White House argues has helped improve relations with other countries in the region . Obama said in Jamaica he `` never foresaw that immediately overnight everything would transform itself . '' The overtures to Cuba have not been universally popular in the United States ; some lawmakers were irate that Obama was seeking to engage what they regard as a corrupt government . Even as Obama landed in Panama the long-standing tensions between pro- and anti-Castro activists was on full display . Dissidents opposed to Castro 's regime were violently accosted earlier this week by supporters of the Cuban government . Rhodes said the White House had `` expressed serious concerns '' about the violence and would continue to speak in support of human rights reforms on the island .
U.S. President Obama , Cuban President Raul Castro meet in Panama City . The two nations -- only 90 miles apart -- have been at odds for more than 50 years .