President Obama Attends Exhibition Game in Havana

US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro sat side-by-side Tuesday for a symbolism-laden game of baseball between Cuba's national side and the Major League's Tampa Bay Rays.

Both without ties and wearing sunglasses, Obama and Castro laughed and chatted in their prime seats at the Latinoamericano stadium in Havana, using baseball diplomacy to cement their breakthrough in ending decades of US-Cuban hostility.

Before the game got underway, the packed stadium observed a moment of silence for the victims of bombings in Brussels earlier in the day.

Cuban gymnasts then put on a show before the Cuban and Florida-based players took to the field for the one-off exhibition game.

Both countries are passionate about baseball, a point Obama and Castro have underlined as they dismantle a Cold War-era conflict that Obama earlier told Cubans in a live television address he had come to "bury."

However, there is controversy around the game, with Cubans upset at a serious talent drain of stars fleeing the impoverished communist island to seek lucrative contracts in the US Major League.

The game was the last event in Obama's three-day visit to Havana, the first by a US president in 88 years.