President Trump’s top aides have advised him not to shake hands with Cuban dictator Raúl Castro at the Summit of the Americas, which starts April 13 in Lima, Peru. But don’t bet that Trump will follow the script.
Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro, one of the summit’s organizers, told me that an encounter between the two presidents will be “inevitable.” Trump and Castro will be in the same room several times during the 34-country summit, in which leaders from across the hemisphere will be meeting without aides and have several coffee breaks.
A senior administration official told McClatchy newspapers that Trump has been advised to avoid a handshake with Castro. White House officials don’t want a Trump-Castro picture to steal the show at the Summit, as the picture of former President Obama and Castro did at the previous summit three years ago.