Exiles divided on thaw in relations

When Cuban and US leaders announced they would restore diplomatic relations after a standoff lasting more than a half-century, all eyes in the US immediately turned to Miami, where many expected the country's largest population of Cuban exiles to pour angrily into the streets.

Outrage was decidedly muted, however, with only a handful of demonstrations, while some of the expatriates known for their support of isolationist tactics actually expressed support for the changes.

The response to Wednesday's surprise announcement by US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro was a reflection of just how much the Cuban-US community has changed since the Cold War days when the US began trying to freeze out the Cuban government.

Daniel Lafuente, the 27-year-old founder of tech hub LAB Miami, grew up hearing his mother and grandfather talk of their exile. He watched the Middle East unrest with dismay, thinking the US and Cuba were stuck. He remains opposed to the Cuban government, but like other Cuban-Americans, he is willing after years of heartbreak and strained expectations to see new diplomacy and to let go of demands that the US isolate Cuba.

"This is like a new age," Lafuente said after hearing Wednesday's news.

Most of the 2 million Cubans living in the US call Florida home, and "Little Havana" has long been the go-to place for demonstrations against the Cuban government. Cuban artists who tried to perform in Miami were threatened; those who dared perform in Cuba were shunned. But such efforts have faded, and the latest protests tend to draw the same small group of activists.

(China Daily 12/19/2014 page12)