© 2024 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Older Cuban-Americans Protest Obama, But Poll Suggests Younger Generation Approves

Cuban exile protesters at a rally in Little Havana hold up a sign that says in Spanish: "We are all part of the resistance."
Roberto Koltun
/
El Nuevo Herald
Cuban exile protesters at a rally in Little Havana hold up a sign that says in Spanish: "We are all part of the resistance."
Cuban exile protesters at a rally in Little Havana hold up a sign that says in Spanish: "We are all part of the resistance."
Credit Roberto Koltun / El Nuevo Herald
/
El Nuevo Herald
Cuban exile protesters at a rally in Little Havana hold up a sign that says in Spanish: "We are all part of the resistance."

  President Obama's decision last week to normalize relations with Cuba was bad news for Cuban exiles who opposeengagement with the communist island. And a new poll released over the weekenddoesn't give them a lot of future comfort, either.

The survey by theBendixenandAmandiInternational firm, conducted for the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and Tampa Bay Times, shows Cuban-Americans are split on President Obama’s new Cuba policy: 48 percent say they disagree with it while 44 percent agree.

On Saturday, some 250 mostly older Cuban exiles gathered in Little Havana to condemn Obama’s decision. 

“I consider it a great betrayal,” said 70-year-old Esperanza Garcia, who fled the Castro dictatorship 45 years ago. “This will benefit theCastros’pockets, not the Cuban people.”

But younger Cuban-Americans under age 65 favor Obama’s move. Only a third think the U.S. should maintain its trade embargo against Cuba.

Garcia argued, “It’s because they didn’t suffer what we suffered.”

"I don't agree with the poll results," said John Suarez of the Directorio Democrático Cubano, one of the groups that organized Saturday's protest. "I'm part of a younger generation of [pro-embargo] activists and I can assure you there is ample support for [the embargo] among 20-, 30- and 40-year-olds."

Copyright 2020 WLRN 91.3 FM. To see more, visit WLRN 91.3 FM.

Tim Padgett is the Americas editor for Miami NPR affiliate WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.
You Count on Us, We Count on You: Donate to WUSF to support free, accessible journalism for yourself and the community.