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Lots to Say in Historic Obama-Castro Phone Call

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WASHINGTON (AP) - When the leaders of the U.S. and Cuba had their first phone conversation in more than 50 years, they were not at a loss for words.

As President Barack Obama told the story at his news conference Friday, he opened his call with Cuban President Raul Castro with a 15-minute monologue and then apologized for taking so much time.

Castro, whose brother Fidel was famously longwinded, apparently told Obama that the U.S. president was young and still had a chance to break Fidel's record of speaking seven hours straight.

The phone call Tuesday lasted about 45 minutes, heralding a revival in U.S.-Cuba ties severed when Fidel Castro seized power in 1959 and the U.S. imposed its embargo two years later.

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