President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba, in less than an hour of a historic meeting, continued the process toward normalization between nations only 90 miles apart geographically but much farther apart politically.

The two leaders appeared to be at ease as they greeted each other in the Palace of the Revolution in Havana Monday. Fifteen months ago, they began resuming diplomatic relations in hopes of finding some common ground on the issues of democracy and human rights.

“This cooperation is beneficial not only for Cuba and the United States,” Castro said during his opening remarks, “but also for our hemisphere at large. Following the decisions made by President Obama to modify the application of some aspects of the blockade, Cuban enterprises and their American counterparts are working to identify possible commercial operations that could materialize in the still restrictive framework of existing regulations.”

Several minutes into his nearly half-hour speech, Castro touched on the subject at the center of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, human rights. “We defend human rights,” the Cuban leader said. “In our view, civil, political, economic, social and culture rights are indivisible, interdependent and universal.”

After noting his government’s defense and the assurance of rights to health care, education, social security, equal pay and the rights of children, Castro said, “We oppose political manipulation and double standards in the approach to human rights.”

Obama began his comments by greeting the audience, including nearly 40 members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, as well as Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. In Spanish, the president said it was a “nuevo dia,” a new day, between the two countries.

But before he could get to the core of his speech, he offered his good wishes and condolences to the family of Marine Staff Sergeant Louis F. Cardin of Temecula, Calif., who was killed in northern Iraq Saturday after a rocket attack by ISIS, or ISIL. “I just wanted to give my thoughts and prayers to the family there and those who have been injured,” he said.

He also noted that there were a number of Cuban-Americans in the delegation, “and for many, this is a time of new hope for the future,” he added.

There were several moments of levity—mention of his family accompanying him and the fact that the Castro brothers were famous for their long speeches—before he began discussing some of the “serious differences” between the U.S. and Cuba. He said that he and Castro had begun some frank and candid conversations on the subjects of democracy and human rights. There are apparently no plans for Obama to meet with Fidel Castro, who continues to state his distrust of the normalization process. But Obama is scheduled to meet with dissidents and their leader, Bertha Soler.

Obama praised the Cuban government for its enormous achievements in education and health care, but “I made it clear that the United States will continue to speak up on behalf of democracy, including the right of the Cuban people to decide their own future,” Obama said.

As part of normalizing relations, Obama said that “means that we discuss these differences directly.” He added, “So I’m very pleased that we’ve agreed to hold our next U.S.-Cuban human rights dialogue here in Havana this year. And both of our countries will welcome our visits by independent United Nations experts as we combat human trafficking, which we agree is a profound violation of human rights.”

Although Obama was pleased to announce a baseball game between the Cuban national team and the Tampa Bay Rays, nothing was said about Guantanamo Bay. It was good to hear the president invoke the name of Jose Marti, the great Cuban revolutionary, although he failed to cite any of the freedom fighter’s famous words. And in the same context, Black Americans would have appreciated hearing the name Antonio Maceo, the Afro-Cuban hero during the nation’s war of independence.

The leaders only fielded a couple of questions apiece, with Castro having difficulty with the translations and his headphones because he was speaking through an interpreter. Two questions came from Jim Acosta, CNN’s senior correspondent and Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC, which gave Obama an opportunity to expound on the embargo. As he had said earlier, “I continue to call on Congress to lift the trade embargo. …We urge Cuba to show that it is ready to do more business, which includes allowing more joint ventures and allowing foreign companies to hire Cubans directly.”

Rep. Charles Rangel said, “I have been an advocate for ending the embargo since 1993, when I first introduced my Free Trade with Cuba Act. I am confident that both of our nations and citizens will benefit through the exchange of people, goods and ideas. President Obama’s visit is a huge step among many we need to take to lift the embargo and foster real change in our relationship. I will keep fighting to create the right conditions for when change really comes.”

At the close of their press conference, something relatively new for the Cuban president with Obama beside him, Castro grabbed Obama’s arm and raised it in triumph, a gesture that seemed to catch the president by surprise, leaving him with a limp arm.

Among the reactions to the president’s visit to Cuba, two have come immediately from Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Cruz, the son of Cuban refugees, charged that Obama has “chosen to legitimize the corrupt and oppressive Castro regime with his presence on the island … freedom cannot happen by enriching and empowering dictatorships.”

Trump blasted Obama for failing to meet with Fidel Castro. During an interview with ABC-TV after the meeting with Raul Castro, Obama said he would gladly meet with Fidel, although he had no idea when that would happen. He said he did not have any idea when things would began to change in earnest on the island, “but they will change.”

Some dissidents claim that things have gotten worse since the normalization process began, saying that 1400 dissidents had been arrested in January alone.

Even so, from Obama’s perspective, it’s a new day in Cuba.