President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the U.S. will form diplomatic relations and open an embassy in communist-led Cuba for the first time in more than 50 years.
Cuban immigrants across the United States have expressed mixed feelings about the decision, including a long-time resident of Wichita. KMUW’s Sean Sandefur reports…
In the spring of 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower placed sanctions on sugar and oil imports from Cuba. They were the first of many. The United States was becoming increasingly critical of Fidel Castro, the fiery leader of the country, and his ties to the Soviet Union. In 1962, aerial photographs were taken above Cuba; President John F. Kennedy then delivered a speech declaring Soviet missile sites had been detected in Cuba, and that the "purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the western hemisphere."
The Cuban Missile Crisis would last for two weeks; eventually the Soviet Union agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Cuba.
It was amidst all of this that Dr. Manuel Alfonso, a medical student at the time, boarded a plane to Miami with his wife, Lucinda.
The couple, who have lived in Wichita since 1969, proudly displays an anti-Castro bumper sticker at eye level on the front door of their home.
The two got out of Cuba before harsh travel restrictions were put into place.
“I left Cuba when I was 22 years old," Alfonso says. "Half of my education was in Cuba. I arrived in the States and continued my goals of finishing my education."
He says when he first arrived in the U.S., he began to notice a change.
“For the first two weeks I was having this fear that I had in Cuba," Alfonso says. "I looked behind myself, around myself, before I would express any thoughts. And that was the way I was living in Cuba. That was my first feeling, the freedom to express myself.”
Alfonso says his father was a political prisoner in Cuba for nine years. Manuel had to make a choice: Stay in Cuba and potentially be detained like his father or join the hundreds of thousands in exodus.
"I thought I was coming for maybe a couple of months because I didn’t think Castro was going to last," Alfonso says. "But, here I am, 54 years and he's still in power.”
Dr. Alfonso’s clutches newspaper clippings, mostly editorials, in his hands. They're all about Cuba. He says he has a filing cabinet full of them. He keeps a close eye on what happens in his native country.
The only part of President Obama’s recent announcement that he supports is the release of Alan Gross, an American imprisoned in Cuba for five years.
“It's good that we have this man back. I'm happy for his family. He was an innocent man to start with," Alfonso says. "But, what are we getting back? What about human rights in Cuba? What about freedom and liberty in Cuba?”
The deal struck between President Obama and Raul Castro, who took control of the country after his brother Fidel's health concerns worsened in 2008, includes easing U.S. restrictions on travel, on money sent back to relatives, and on banking. Cuba has agreed to enhance its internet capabilities and to release dozens of its own political prisoners. But Dr. Alfonso says that as long as communism is allowed to exist there, it will never be enough.
“What has happened in China and Vietnam?" Alfonso asks. "We are trading with them. We're having diplomatic relations, commercial relations. Is there freedom or respect in those countries? No. Bringing Coca-Cola to Vietnam and China is not going to change those countries.
Florida International University in Miami has been surveying local Cuban-Americans for decades. This year’s poll indicates that the majority of those who immigrated from 1959 to 1980 still oppose diplomatic relations with their home country. But it also says that margins are closing, and that younger immigrants are heavily in favor of President Obama’s plan.
On Wednesday, Obama said the U.S. wouldn’t back down from fighting Cuba on human rights violations.
“I believe that we can do more to support the Cuban people and promote our values through engagement," the President said. "After all, these 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked.”
Dr. Alfonso hasn’t been back to Cuba since he first left in 1962. He vows not to go until the Castro family is no longer in power. But he does hope to visit a democratic Cuba with his wife and five children one day.
“I miss the green color of Cuba, I miss the smell of the ocean, I miss the hometown I grew up in," Alfonso says. "I miss my flag. There's not a single day in my life that I don't think about Cuba. Not a single day.”
This story originally aired during Morning Edition on 12/19/14.
