American President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, spent much of their Monday together posing for several photo and video opportunities for journalists from both countries. Such was to be expected, as their historic meeting — prompted by Obama’s arrival on Sunday — marked the first time a sitting U.S. president has stepped foot on the island in 88 years. However, the momentous occasion was quickly overshadowed by the two leaders’ stark differences during a joint press conference they held in the afternoon.
According to the Washington Post, the two appeared before the press following a two-hour meeting they’d held behind closed doors. The expressed purpose of the press conference was for each leader to make a statement on the results of their discussion, which was both constructive and conflicting at times. Obama and Castro said as much in their individual remarks, which emphasized human rights and lifting the embargo, respectively.
Following these comments, however, the pair then turned things over to the Cuban and American journalists in the audience. Apparently the question and answer sessions came as a bit of a surprise, as was evident when several reporters from the U.S. repeatedly asked Castro about his country’s current position with human rights and whether or not Cuban political prisoners were currently being held.
The first of two such incidents occurred when CNN’s Jim Acosta, the son of a Cuban emigrant, asked Castro directly about whether or not Cuba was holding political prisoners that very moment. Not only did Castro refuse to acknowledge whether or not such persons existed, he also grew noticeably irritated with Acosta’s line of questioning.
“If there are political prisoners, give me a list, right now. What political prisoners… Give me a name or names, and if there are political prisoners, they will be free by tonight.”
The Hill reported that Castro only took these questions from the American press — something he’d never done before — because the White House had insisted he do so. Per his back-and-forth with Acosta, however, it was clear that the Cuban president was not altogether on board with the endeavor.
This was especially the case when NBC’s Andrea Mitchell directed a question about Cuba’s future at Castro. While the question itself didn’t have anything to do with Acosta’s, it was yet another address of the Cuban president from the American press, and he wasn’t happy with being asked “too many questions.”
That’s when Obama stepped in to defend Mitchell and calm Castro down, saying “she’s one of our most esteemed journalists in America and I’m sure she’d appreciate just a short, brief answer.” Despite the presidential kudos, however, Castro ignored the question and further defended the country’s human rights record by suggesting that no country “whatsoever” had a perfect record.
Onstage bickering aside, perhaps the best, most awkward exchange of the entire press conference came at the very end when the two men posed for photos. In an obviously unplanned and cumbersome movement, Castro reached for Obama’s left arm with his right and tried to raise it into a triumphant gesture.
Obama resisted, which resulted in his left hand appearing limp and lifeless before all the still and video cameras in the room:
"Look how tiny he is, everybody!"
It’s even worse in GIF form:
https://twitter.com/justinsink/status/711993015703891968
If you’re one for around 40 minutes of punishment, you can check out the entire press conference in the video below.
(Via the Washington Post, The Hill and NBC 6 South Florida)