Historic Obama-Castro handshake prompts both hope and derision

For sure it's just what Nelson Mandela would have wanted, but does it amount to more than that?

The historic handshake between US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro at Mandela's memorial was greeted on the streets of Cuba with surprise and hopes of improved relations.

Reaction was more muted in Miami, where Cuban exiles have had a hard time accepting Mandela's respect for Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Castro's smile as Obama moved to shake his hand on the way to speak at the ceremony was seen by many Cubans as a signal of reconciliation after more than a half-century of bitter ideological and political differences between the two countries separated by only 145 kilometres.

"I never imagined such a thing could happen," government worker Yesniel Soto, 25, said on her way to work in Havana. "I see it as something that has begun to change, a change we are all hoping for."

The two presidents' civil behaviour towards one another was the latest sign of a change in tone in the usually hostile rhetoric between the two governments.