{"id":96163,"date":"2017-06-19T17:14:08","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T21:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oncubamagazine.com\/?p=96163"},"modified":"2017-06-22T12:28:09","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T16:28:09","slug":"we-need-to-listen-to-the-cuban-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/we-need-to-listen-to-the-cuban-people\/","title":{"rendered":"We need to listen to the Cuban people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My father is a Cuban exile. At twelve years old, he left Cuba with his brother\u2014leaving siblings and parents behind\u2014as part of Operation Pedro Pan. Years later, the family was reunited in Miami, where my 95-year old grandmother still lives to this day, enjoying Miami Heat games on television.<\/p>\n<p>I grew up outside of the traditional Miami Cuban community. My mother is American, and no one spoke Spanish in our neighborhood. Yet our annual pilgrimage to visit abuela in Little Havana had a profound impact on my personal development. I recognized that even in the joy of our family reunions, there was always a sorrow, a longing for the promised land of Cuba.<\/p>\n<p>My father returned to Cuba for the first time in 2005, and I had the honor of being the only family member to join him. The decision caused deep tension for many in our family; for them, a Cuba with no democracy and any Castro was forbidden territory. Yet my father saw beyond the politics of the moment, recognizing that the desire to connect with the island and its people\u2014<em>his<\/em> people\u2014was not an act of treason, but a rite of passage.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve returned to Cuba several times since that first visit, and each has introduced me to more Cuban friends who are living daily life in an island full of paradox. Life in Cuba often carries struggle, but it is also full of profound beauty.<\/p>\n<p>Since President Obama\u2019s declaration in 2014 to re-engage Cuba and loosen travel restrictions, more Cubans have been able to connect with Americans and learn about the many common dreams and joys we share. This has been especially important for the Cuban youth, who possess the energy and ambition that can make Cuba thrive.<\/p>\n<p>And so, on June 16, I watched with sadness as President Trump delivered his policy speech in Little Havana. The political grandstanding was appropriately staged in a theatre. And with the stroke of a pen, Trump erased another achievement of his predecessor\u2014an achievement favored by the majority of Americans, congressional members, and even Cuban Americans.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, Trump\u2019s new policy toward Cuba is similar to the one in place under Obama. Yet with this policy shift comes a destruction of any goodwill America has built with the island through skilled negotiation and diplomacy. It\u2019s hard to envision how U.S.-Cuba relations could improve over the next four years.<\/p>\n<p>Cubans on the island are right to worry about these policy changes, but they should also be careful not to blame Trump for all their struggles. Those who feel hurt or angry by the policy change should focus on channeling these emotions into positive action. What response will Cubans offer? Is it time for a Cuban letter-writing campaign to the White House? If the people demonstrate, will Trump notice, or even care? Regardless of the Cuban response, there are supporters in America who will stand in solidarity with them.<\/p>\n<p>In the days leading up to Trump\u2019s announcement, many pro-engagement organizations spoke openly against Trump\u2019s policy proposals. Petitions were created and openly signed by hundreds. Protesters stood in the rain arguing opposing sides of the issue\u2014each believing that his side was the right one, the ideal one for Cuba and its people. It\u2019s time for all of us in the U.S. to listen to the Cuban people themselves, and it\u2019s time for Cubans to speak out with the same conviction we did this week.<\/p>\n<p><em>*Andrew Louis Jim\u00e9nez is a US attorney, founder of Jim\u00e9nez Law Offices, and Co-Founder of CubaOne Foundation. Views are his own.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My father is a Cuban exile. At twelve years old, he left Cuba with his brother\u2014leaving siblings and parents behind\u2014as part of Operation Pedro Pan. Years later, the family was reunited in Miami, where my 95-year old grandmother still lives to this day, enjoying Miami Heat games on television. I grew up outside of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3528,"featured_media":96221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13944],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[33970,13561],"class_list":["post-96163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba-usa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>We need to listen to the Cuban people | OnCubaNews English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/we-need-to-listen-to-the-cuban-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We need to listen to the Cuban people | OnCubaNews English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My father is a Cuban exile. 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