U.S., Cuba talking again, but local expatriates not convinced change is coming

[Jimmy2]

NAPLES — Talks between the Obama administration and Cuba briefly resumed last week in New York.

But talk was all it was, said Jorge Lestage, while sipping café cubano outside La Sorpresa Latina Market in East Naples.

After years of seeing the back and forth between the two governments, the native of Cuba’s Isla de la Juventud said nothing is going to change because of one meeting.

“For things to change, the current government has to leave,” Lestage said matter-of-factly in Spanish. “With all the damage (Fidel and Raul Castro) have done and all the corruption they’ve created, they have to leave Cuba... it’s the honorable thing.”

Last week’s meeting was the first such meeting since 2003, and came just months after President Barack Obama rolled back travel restrictions to Cuba — a promise he made during the campaign trail.

In a written statement, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. and Cuban representatives met to discuss implementation of the U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords, which includes the more commonly known “wet foot-dry foot” policy.

Under the policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to remain, while those intercepted at sea are generally returned home. The accords were created in 1994 and 1995, and were aimed at regulating migration between the two countries and prevent unsafe departures from the island.

“In the course of the meeting, the U.S. team, led by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Craig Kelly, reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to promote safe, orderly, and legal migration,” said Ian Kelly. “Engaging in these talks underscores our interest in pursuing constructive discussions with the government of Cuba to advance U.S. interests on issues of mutual concern.”

Some of the concerns cited were the Cuban government’s denial of exit papers for Cubans who have been given visas to legally emigrate to the U.S., the Cuban government not allowing U.S. interests on the island to check up on Cubans who were caught at sea and repatriated, as well as the regime’s hesitance to accept the repatriation of Cuban nationals that were determined to be excludable from the U.S.

In a recent interview, U.S. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said talks between the island nation and the American government had come to a standstill because the Cuban regime has been systematically violating the accord.

Diaz-Balart said he felt that the Obama administration has given a number of unilateral concessions to the Cuban government without any in return.

“The regime has done nothing, except to continue to repress,” said Diaz-Balart.

As for change, Diaz-Balart said the Cuban government has been very open about not wanting to change the status quo.

“They don’t say they are going to change,” he said. “They say they are not going to change.”

Many in Southwest Florida’s Cuban-American community agreed with Diaz-Balart and said that change was something they would have to see to believe.

Catching up with friends outside of Golden Gate’s La Hispana Cafeteria, Cuban expatriate Manuel Villa said he seriously doubts that a government that’s been in place for 50 years is just going to change and give up power because the U.S. tells them.

“It’s illogical,” said Villa, 62, who has called the U.S. home for 15 years. “That man (Fidel) is not going to change and his brother is going to change even less.”

But inside La Hispana, Willy Melendez was a little more hopeful.

When anyone gets Melendez, 63, talking about his native Cuba, the first thing he’ll say is that all Cuban exiles want their native land to be free.

But it’s the second thing he says that make his eyes crinkle with mirth.

“Fidel’s already dead,” said Melendez jokingly.

He knows it’s not true yet, but there’s always hope, he said.

“There will be change,” Melendez said in a soft wistful voice, when asked what he thought of the meeting. “I hope for that.”

For her part, Melendez’ friend Cristina Liz said she wasn’t getting her hopes up and felt that the meeting between the U.S. and Cuba would end up being just a one-time show.

“It’s all politics and protocol,” said Liz, who has called the U.S. home for 10 years. Liz added that she could only imagine how things are in the island today, in the midst of the worldwide economic downturn.

Melendez, however, urged her to stay positive.

“Something will happen,” he said.

With a bittersweet smile, Liz said she’d try.

“But with Raul, I don’t see change coming,” she said.