The reaction of Cuban-Americans may not be as cut-and dried as some think, at least according to sources like
ReutersSome Cuban exiles responded with outrage. Others with ecstasy.
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The reaction in Florida, which is home to about 80 percent of the nation's Cuban-American population, reflects a generational shift in an exile community whose powerful political influence in the United States and steadfast support for the Republican Party helped keep U.S. sanctions on Cuba in place for decades.
But with President Barack Obama's vow to push for "an honest and serious debate" about lifting the United States' long-standing economic embargo against Cuba, many Cuban exiles welcomed the turn, seeing a chance for more engagement with the homeland they left behind.
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But the diehard anti-Castro generation is aging. And with many younger exiles having arrived since 1980 with no direct memories of life under Castro and many more Cuban-Americans born in the United States, there is a younger generation of Cuban-Americans that is more pragmatic and more influenced by the needs of relatives who remain in Cuba.
This is from Markos Moulitsas, owner of the progressive
Daily Kos, so perhaps take it with a grain of salt should you be inclined:
With news that the president has brokered detente with Cuba, expect the crazy right-wing Cuban-American community to lose its head. Marco Rubio has predictably lost his, but Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez's hissy fit this morning has proven that idiocy can certainly be a bipartisan affair.
But here's the thing—the Cuban-American community is not monolithically in favor of keeping the failed embargo strategy alive. Quite the opposite, in fact. The only people left supporting failure are the crusty old fucks who can't get past having lost the war half a century ago.
Every year, Florida International Univerisity polls the Cuban-American community in South Florida. And the results are quite clear:
A slight majority of the Cuban-American community in Miami-Dade County opposes continuing the U.S. embargo of Cuba. Countywide, 52% of the respondents oppose continuing the embargo. This percentage rises among Cuban Americans ages 18-29, 62% of whom oppose continuing the embargo. Similarly, 58% of those arriving since 1995 oppose continuing the embargo.
In other words, like most Republican policies nowadays, the main supporters are aging away, while the younger generations favor a more pragmatic, less dogmatic, approach.
We'll see how this plays out, I guess.
