The next step in restoring relations may be coming from a voice in South Florida. Rosa Maria Paya, the daughter of a prominent Cuban dissident, is demanding change.
Although there are many people on and off the island that strongly support renewed ties with Cuba and the United States, there's a large group who are concerned the conversations are happening exclusively with the Cuban government, not with people who really want change.
Two days after Cuba and the U.S. formally reestablished relations, Cubans in Miami gathered together in prayer at Ermita de la Caridad in Coconut Grove to remember Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya.
Front and center at the mass was his daughter, Rosa Maria, who continues to fight for change on the island.
"Democratic changes, peaceful changes, but changes. Not this fraudulent hypocrisy where the Cuban government is trying to sell an image that is not actually the reality," Rosa Maria said.
Oswaldo Paya, a former pro-democracy activist, died in Cuba three years ago under controversial circumstances. The communist government said Paya died in a car crash after the driver lost control.
Wednesday, the Human Rights Foundation published a report which concluded that evidence strongly suggests the events of July 22, 2012, were not an accident, but instead the result of a car crash directly caused by agents of the Cuban government.
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"We already knew that what happened was not an accident but we have the right to know all the truth," Rosa Maria expressed.
Earlier this week, Rosa Maria attended the press conference where Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez spoke. She said although she had credentials, she was essentially threatened by a U.S. spokesperson not to speak or ask questions.
She notes she's not against the new approach between both countries, however, she said what matters most is what they're talking about.
"I would love to know if the American administration is in favor of the right to decide of the Cuban people and that's a topic that should be over the table," Rosa Maria said.
