Miami

“I Want a Change Now”: Mixed Reaction in Miami Over Cuba Policy Shift

The debate among Miami's exile community continued Thursday, a day after President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. was moving to normalize relations with Cuba.

"Obama, coward! Obama, coward!" one man chanted outside Versailles restaurant.

Some argue the Castro regime is now getting something for nothing under the new change in policy, and said they want to keep the embargo in place.

"The grip is gonna be tighter now in Cuba. Much tighter," Salvador Rodriguez said.

Others said it was time to do something different than what has failed to topple the regime in more than five decades.

"It is time to do something, and Obama is doing something," Cuban exile Santiago Portal said. "I want a change now."

But Rodriguez said softening the American stance toward Cuba is throwing the regime a lifeline.

"We're gonna have the Castros for twenty more years now," Rodriguez said.

Contact Us