BREAKING: Obama in Cuba, tells Cubans they should be free to speak without fear

A policy of isolation designed for the cold war had no place in the 21st century - Obama

'I have come to bury the last remnant of the cold war'  says President Barak Obama.

Obama then quotes José Martí: “I’m growing a white rose.” He then says he comes with a word of peace. “Havana is only 90 miles from Florida but to get here we had to travel a great distance, over barriers of history, of ideology, barriers of pain and separation,” he says.

He says that American battleships crossed those waters “to liberate but also to exert control over Cuba,” and “that short distance has been crossed by hundreds and thousands of Cuban exiles.”

Obama then describes the long and tortured history between nations: the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war, the history of colonialism.

“One constant was the conflict between the United States and Cuba. I have come here to bury the last remnant of the cold war in the Americas.”

Vladimir Putin meets Fidel Castro in Cuba

Vladimir Putin, Russian president, meets Fidel Castro, the retired Communist leader, in Cuba

Russian President Vladimir Putin began a six-day Latin American tour aimed at boosting trade and ties in the region with a stop Friday in Cuba, a key Soviet ally during the Cold War that has backed Moscow in its dispute with the West over Ukraine.

Cuban state media carried photos of Putin's meeting with retired leader Fidel Castro. Putin and Raúl Castro, the president, also participated in a ceremony at Havana's Memorial to the Soviet Internationalist Soldier.

The two countries signed about a dozen accords in areas such as energy, industry, health and disaster prevention. Russian companies will participate in petroleum projects around Boca de Jaruco on the island's north coast, and that cooperation will extend to offshore oil deposits, Cuban government website Cubadebate said.