Obama and Raul , Fidel Castro 's brother , shook hands on Friday . White House says the two are due a 'substantive ' conversation today . They met at the Summit of the Americas in Panama alongside other leaders . Cuba 'is close to removing US from list of terrorist sponsor states ' Move would automatically lift some economic sanctions on island nation . The pair had shaken hands before at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in 2013 . They will meet again today and discuss further thawing U.S.-US relations . Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos hailed Obama 's push to improve relations with US , saying it healed a 'blister ' that was hurting the region .
Obama and Raul , Fidel Castro 's brother , shook hands on Friday . White House says the two are due a 'substantive ' conversation today . They met at the Summit of the Americas in Panama alongside other leaders . US 'is close to removing Cuba from list of terrorist sponsor states ' Move would automatically lift some economic sanctions on island nation . The pair had shaken hands before at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in 2013 . They will meet again today and discuss further thawing U.S.-Cuba relations . Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos hailed Obama 's push to improve relations with Cuba , saying it healed a 'blister ' that was hurting the region .