A Cuban military band played "The Star-Spangled Banner" under a billowing Cuban flag as the US president and a Cuban Politburo member appeared side by side. In the distance, a huge sculptured portrait of Che Guevara.
In such circumstances, he's a class act; Barack Obama. A master at staging vivid photo opportunities that will stick in the memory and sum up an historic moment, a master at sensitively crossing cultural and political divides, and in Cuba one that had not been broached in over 50 years – Obama, quoting poetry from José Martí, a Cuban national hero, a revolutionary philosopher who fought for independence against Spain in the 19th century (and had a few things to say about US expansionism too) and is an icon for both Castroite Cuba and its exiles in Miami: "I plant a white rose."
And baseball diplomacy updates Nixon’s famous ping pong diplomacy with China .
"I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas," Obama said, speaking of a "new day" in a relationship that is healing but not yet healed. The thorniest of issues, human rights, was not dodged, Obama even encouraging journalists to question President Raul Castro directly. "Give me a list of the political prisoners and I will release them immediately," Castro said indignantly, if unconvincingly. "It's not correct to ask me about political prisoners," he said. Dissidents who met Obama described his visit as a transformational moment.
This may all be legacy-building for the folks back home, but it was also much more than just a PR olive branch, a genuine landmark moment in the region’s divided history, however overdue. One that will be welcomed by neighbours, whether allies or not, across South America.
There remains in place a significant blockade against the island, which Obama made clear he opposes – persuading Congress to raise it, he cleverly implied, would require the help of the Cuban people in persuading their regime to continue the path of reform. Two birds, one stone. A class act.