President Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro Tuesday at a memorial service for Nelson Mandela, a widely watched gesture that signaled possible thawing between the leaders of two Cold War foes.
Obama was greeting a line of world leaders attending the service the memorial in Johannesburg before delivering his own eulogy in which he urged a new generation to embrace Mandela’s life work as their own.
More than half a century after the U.S. cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba, such exchanges between American and Cuban leaders are exceedingly rare.
Despite Tuesday’s handshake, Obama still offered an implicit criticism of governments like Cuba’s when moments later, he said that too many people embrace Mandela’s legacy of racial reconciliation but passionately resist economic and other reforms.
“There are too many who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people,” Obama said, referring to Mandela by his clan name.
In a speech that received thunderous applause at FNB stadium and a standing ovation, Obama called on people to apply the lessons of Mandela, who emerged from 27 years in prison under a racist regime, embraced his enemies when he finally walked to freedom and ushered in a new era of forgiveness and reconciliation in South Africa.
“We, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace,” said Obama, who like Mandela became the first black president of his country. Obama said that when he was a student, Mandela “woke me up to my responsibilities — to others, and to myself — and set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today.”
Addressing the memorial service for Mandela, who died Thursday at age 95, Obama pointed out that “around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who they love.”
In contrast to the wild applause given to Obama, South African President Jacob Zuma was booed. Many South Africans are unhappy with Zuma because of state corruption scandals, though his ruling African National Congress, once led by Mandela, remains the front-runner ahead of elections next year.
The weather and public transportation problems rain kept many people away. The 95,000-capacity stadium was only two-thirds full.
Some of the dozens of trains reserved to ferry people to the stadium were delayed due to a power failure. A Metrorail services spokeswoman, Lilian Mofokeng, said more than 30,000 mourners were successfully transported by train.