Obama shook Raúl Castro’s hand after SIX MONTHS of secret U.S.-Cuba talks, report claims

• U.S. and Cuban officials have held mid-level discussions in Washington and Havana
• ‘We’re in talks’ with Cuba on a wide range of issues, agreed Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Tuesday
• Middle-men including Latin American diplomats have also been carrying messages back and forth between Washington and Havana
• U.S.-Cuba relations have seen an unprecedented thaw since President Obama took office, and a host of lawmakers with Cuban ties are upset
• America’s 50-year-long trade embargo with the communist nation has been slammed by the UN but embraced by survivors of the Castro regime

The handshake seen ’round the water cooler was no fluke, it turns out.