Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw
-
Upload
tracey-eaton -
Category
Documents
-
view
215 -
download
0
description
Transcript of Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw
![Page 1: Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081813/5695d10c1a28ab9b0294eae0/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Tracey Eaton
Cubans celebrate news of
USCuba thaw
Havana residents paraded through the streets upon learning ties with
arch foe the US will normalise after 50 years.
Last updated: 18 Dec 2014 11:24
![Page 2: Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081813/5695d10c1a28ab9b0294eae0/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Jubilant Havana residents react to news that the US and Cuba will normalise relations [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Havana, Cuba Cubans hugged each other and cried. They marched and cheered. They gathered on streetcorners and in cafeterias to talk about the stunning news that Cuba and the United States were restoringdiplomatic ties after decades of hostility.
"Enough blood, enough hate," said Deysi Mata Nuñez, as tears streamed down her cheeks. "We needpeace."
Nuñez, 66, thanked President Barack Obama for releasing three Cuban intelligence agents who had beenjailed since 1998.
"I've prayed for them every night," said Nuñez, who sat on a street corner selling homemade cloth dolls for
![Page 3: Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081813/5695d10c1a28ab9b0294eae0/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
about a dollar each. "I've asked God for their freedom."
The spies Gerardo Hernandez, 49, Antonio Guerrero, 56, and Ramon Labañino, 51 were returned to Cuba
on Wednesday. Two others Rene Gonzalez, 58, and Fernando Gonzalez, 51 were released earlier before
completing their sentences.
Cuban officials had pushed relentlessly for the release of the "Cuban Five" as they were known. The
government staged mass marches and protests reminiscent of a campaign demanding the return of ElianGonzalez, a sixyearold Cuban boat wreck survivor who when in the US was thrust into the centre of aninternational custody dispute in 1999.
"Elian Gonzalez and the Cuban Five is all I've heard about for almost my entire life," said Alejandro
Cespedes, 25, who sat with a friend in the lobby of the Hotel Capri in the capital Havana. "I was nineyears
old when the government started campaigning for the Cuban Five."
'Two peoples become one'
Some Cubans grumbled about the longrunning campaign to free the five spies, but news of their release and
the prospect of normal relations with the US was all people were talking about Wednesday.
"We were all sure the Cuban Five would return one day, but we didn't know when," said Juana Garcia, 65, whostood outside her home in Havana.
Another woman, Rosa Karla Garcia, 41, said: "Now I hope relations with the United States will improve. I
hope our two peoples become one, because it's the people who suffer when governments fight."
"How many years has it been? Fiftysome years way too long," said neighbour Haydee Cuellar, 48, who
runs a socalled casa particular, a home offering rooms to tourists.
"This is the biggest news the Cuban people will get this year," said Gonzalez Iglesias, 64, a chef who works at
a restaurant nearby. "This is an endoftheyear gift."
Several coworkers nodded as Iglesias continued. "We're not bad people," he said. "We have nothing against
the Americans. But we don't agree with their government's politics. I mean in 50 years, what has the embargo
accomplished? All it does is hurt the Cuban people. It grinds them down. But our principles haven't changed."
Iglesias said he welcomes increased tourism from the US, along with measures to allow Americans to use
credit cards and ATM machines on the island.
"With those and other changes, the blockade practically disappears," he said. "Now more Americans will be
able to drink Cuban rum and smoke Cuban cigars."
Students from the Raul Roa Garcia Institute of International Relations in Havana paraded through the streets
![Page 4: Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081813/5695d10c1a28ab9b0294eae0/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Cuban schoolchildren watch as people in Havana took to the streets
to celebrate [Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
in celebration after hearing that the US and Cuba were moving to restore diplomatic ties.
"No one ordered anyone to go into the streets," said Yusnely Hernandez, 33, a waitress. "They went on theirown."
Residents cheered as the students romped throughHavana's Vedado neighbourhood. Some residentswaved from open windows. Others peered down fromapartment balconies.
'Truly historic days'
Students, numbering at least 100, blocked traffic andwaved banners and the red, white and blue Cuban flag.
Their final stop was the Institute of InternationalRelations, where dozens of American academics,analysts and antiembargo activists had been meetingwith their Cuban counterparts to debate the prospects of improved USCuba relations during the final twoyears of the Obama administration.
Participants at the conference cheered when President Raul Castro announced the three spies were headingto Cuba.
"For Cubans, it's the beginning of the end of the war," said Philip Brenner, an American University professorwho attended the conference. "They've felt under siege for 55 years. Now there's a sigh of relief. They cannow imagine normal relations, something they didn't think was possible."
"These are truly historic days," said Sarah Stephens, director of the nonprofit Center for Democracy in theAmericas in Washington, DC.
"This is the right thing to do," said Stephens, who also attended the conference. "We can feel proud of ourgovernments. It obviously takes a lot of courage on both sides or this would have happened a long time ago."
Stephens said she believes that lawmakers will eventually dismantle the HelmsBurton Act, which bans mosttrade with Cuba.
"I think there will be a lot of enthusiasm for that in Congress," she said. "There's a majority that wants thepolicy changed, but haven't felt they had the political space. They were waiting for leadership from thepresident. I think the voices of those who have been the loudest in supporting US policy will now be drownedout."
Still, she said, "It's going to be a huge battle."
![Page 5: Cubans celebrate news of U.S.-Cuba thaw](https://reader036.fdocuments.us/reader036/viewer/2022081813/5695d10c1a28ab9b0294eae0/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
USCuba relations will normalise after five decades of animosity[Tracey Eaton/Al Jazeera]
Source: Al Jazeera
The US and Cuban governments will also continue to clash, she said. "There are still going to be many, manypoints of disagreement between our governments. It's not happyever after. It is hopeful and it's forwardlooking and it's the greatest news."
Mike Kopetski, a former congressman from Oregon state, said he supports the move to restore relations withCuba.
"Credit goes to both Raul Castro and Barack Obama because it takes two leaders agreeing to agree for thisto happen," said Kopetski, who was also at the conference. "It's a gutsy move by President Obama. PresidentObama won the Nobel Peace Prize this becomes part of that legacy."
New beginning
Kopetski joined Cuban students who marched in thestreets, celebrating Wednesday's announcement. Hesaid the US and Cuba should try to learn from eachother.
"We need to learn from their system, as we did in China,as well as they need to understand our system and let'sgo on from there. It's a new beginning."
Deysi Mata Nuñez, the Cuban woman who sells dolls,said Obama's announcement is a vindication of theCuban revolution.
"The revolution didn't take anything away from us. It gave to us."
She conceded that life hasn't been easy during these past decades. She's seen her share of sadness andheartbreak, but she said she's not bitter. "Life is too short for that."
And she's convinced the next generation will be better off than hers. "I'm sure of it," she said. "I have faith."
Hide Comments