The Cuban Exiles

Lifting the embargo is a major political issue. Therefore, the stance that U.S. elected officials take on US-Cuba relations can cause them to gain or lose the support of some voters. The Cuban-American community has played a major role in the politics of this issue over the years.

The Cuban exiles are people that left Cuba after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Many of them came to the United States and settled mostly in Miami. Most of these Cuban Americans are political refugees. No group cares more about US-Cuba policy, and no group has been more vocal. Historically, the Cuban exiles have been strong supporters of the embargo. According to the Miami Herald, an older exile said, “The embargo is the one thing exiles feel has punished Castro for kidnapping their country in a revolution that they feel cost them their way of life, their families and their future in their homeland.” Over the years, it has been common to hear sentiment such as this from Cuban-Americans who have pushed for the US government to take a strict approach against the Castro regime in order to force the regime into political change. These people feel that the Castro regime should be punished for its treatment of the Cuban people. Many believe that Cuban leadership needs to make a change before the embargo should be lifted. Francisco Hernandez, President of the Cuban-American National Foundation, says, “The embargo should remain in place until there is some negotiated change in Cuba such as the release of prisoners or free elections.”

However, there are a rising number of Cuban exiles that want the embargo to be lifted. “In 1992, 82 percent of Cuba-born exiles polled said the embargo should be kept in place. By 2005, that number had dropped to 62 percent.” The younger Cuban-Americans are generally more likely to be against the embargo. This growing number of exiles believes that the embargo has failed. One Miami Herald reader writes, “You don’t change a dictatorship by blindly continuing a half century failed embargo…”

It will be interesting to see if the changing viewpoint of Cuban exiles will play a part in changing American policy on Cuba.

Source: http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2009/09/09/18373/support_us_embargo_down_among_cuban_exiles.html

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