HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cubans can still barely believe what they saw: A president named Castro sat down for talks with a “yankee” US leader. But the islanders know the diplomatic thaw will take time.

The ice-breaking meeting between Cuban leader Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas in Panama on Saturday was broadcast live on state-run television in the communist-ruled country.

Two days later, it remained the main topic of conversation on the island, which was ruled by Castro’s brother Fidel from 1959 until he was sidelined by an illness in 2006.

Fidel Castro clashed with 10 other US leaders during his decades in power, but his younger 83-year-old brother and Obama stunned the world in December when they announced their intention to bury the Cold War-era hostility.

“We never thought that this meeting could be possible, and especially not in such a cordial, frank and respectful manner,” said Jorge Luis Perez, 51, a musician who sings and plays guitar for tourists in Old Havana.

“We, Cubans, were very impressed,” Perez said.

Xiomara Castellanos, a 73-year-old housewife, said she was “delighted” over the meeting and she never thought she would see the day.

“They looked like two gentlemen and the message they gave to the world was that they really want to launch new relations and security after so many years of fighting,” she said.

Long-term process

The news website Cuba Contemporanea summed up the mood in an article on Monday saying that “this was all unimaginable in December 2013” when Castro and Obama briefly shook hands at the funeral of former South African leader Nelson Mandela.

“The process between Cuba and the United States is moving, but maybe not as fast as was expected on December 17,” when Obama and Castro revealed to the world their intention to restore ties that broke in 1961.

While senior officials launched historic negotiations in January, the two sides have yet to agree on when to reopen embassies in Havana and Washington.

“We can’t have false expectations,” said Jorge Broches, a 48-year-old maintenance chief at a Havana hotel.

“Obama seemed really honest to me and with good intentions toward Cuba,” Broches said.

“But there are important decisions that he can’t take and that only the US Congress can take,” he said, referring to the US embargo, which Obama has urged the US legislature to lift.

Perez, the guitar player who added songs in English for the rising number of Americans visiting Cuba under special allowances, said the Obama-Castro meeting is “another step” in the reconciliation process, which will be a long-term thing.

Gregorio Rodriguez, a 65-year-old electrician, said it will be difficult to restore relations “if the Cuban government doesn’t show interest in improving human rights”.

Fears over US ‘vices’

But some of the staunchest supporters of Cuba’s 1959 revolution fear that Washington will use diplomatic detente to destroy the gains brought by the communist system.

“I don’t believe Obama’s honest and I don’t trust the Americans,” said Alicia Hidalgo, 51, who works at a cultural institution.

“The methods have changed, but the goal is still to destroy the revoloution.”

She voiced concerns about what could happen the day the embargo falls and American tourism is finally permitted.

“If they come, everything would be great at first, but then they would fill the eyes of the youth with their material things and vices. They damage everything they touch,” she said.

But an independent survey conducted by a US-based pollster for American media showed last week that 97 per cent of Cubans support restoring relations.

Many on the island hope that trading with the United States could improve their lives, in a country where people earn US$20 a month on average.

“I don’t want to die without seeing the two countries living in a civilised way together like two neighbouring countries should,” said Perez, the guitar player.