UNION CITY (Dagbladet): At US President Barack Obama unexpectedly declared that he would end the more than 50 years long, cold war with the Caribbean island, has triggered both fury and cheers among the 1.5 million Cubans living in the US after fleeing from Castro’s communist regime.
Just west of Manhattan in Union City is the area called “Havana on the Hudson.” Here lives the largest group exiled Cubans outside Miami.
– Castro regime is the winner here. This strengthens them. Freedom Cubans should have been the first priority. After all these years of blockade, it is possible to argue that it has not worked, but only to restore relations when Cubans still can not fish in their waters and still can not vote, is totally wrong. How can the United States negotiate with tyrants, says Gilbert Flores Dagbladet.
– People are starving
He is the holder of cigar store Havana on the Hudson Cigars, but will still not be able to sell the famous and banned Cuban cigars after Obama’s surprising decision to normalize relations with the country. It is only Congress can repeal embargo.
Flores’ family came to America in 1962.
– My father led a brigade that fought against Castro, so he made a lot of noise before he left the country. My family also had one of the largest cigar plantations in the country, says Flores.
He still has good contact with the family in the old country.
– But plantation was taken from us, and there are thousands of such stories. People are starving. They lack everything and living under an incredible tyranny, says Flores.
Now he worried the country’s future, and believe that the approach with the United States will primarily lead to the huge black market for goods and services in country will only grow.
– I am not an optimist. Everyone agrees that Castro must away, but the question is how it can happen, says Flores.
– A healthy step
Not far away sits Joe Arellano at a restaurant where the fragrance of Cuban dishes filling the room. He grew up in Miami with parents who fled Castro in 1959 and rejoices over Obama’s decision.
– The exile community in Miami believe very strongly that the US should not give any financial support to Cuba, because in their eyes are supporting regime. The strategy has lasted for 50 years, and it has clearly not worked. I got the chance to go to Cuba for three or four years ago and saw with my own eyes how my parents are from, and what kind of properties they had to leave, and how people live there now. It was not a pretty sight, he tells Dagbladet.
Now think he is a new American strategy is beginning of the end of the Castro regime.
– It is positive because it gives Cubans a chance to see what opportunities exist outside the country. Ultimately it will enable them to choose new leaders and achieve change. There will be a more organic way to make a regime change on. There is a healthy step.
Arellano warns simultaneously against the whole process to go too fast.
– There must be gradual, but within two or three years should all sanctions be removed.
Generational Gaps
The mixed reactions reflect a generational. Many of the older exile Cubans who fled Castro, are loyal supporters of the Republican Party, and they have had great influence on US Cuba policy for decades. Now many believe younger that it is time to realize that the harsh sanctions have not worked.
– Todos somos americanos – we are all Americans, Obama said in the historic speech Wednesday, but will simultaneously harsh criticism from Republicans.
Among them is Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. He Cuban background and chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
– President Obama’s actions have acquitted the brutal behavior of the Cuban authorities, he said in a statement.
After New Year continues the fight for Cuba policy in Congress.
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