Feature: Cuban-Americans divided over restoration of diplomatic ties between former foes

It is easy to strike up a conversation with a customer at the walk-up window of Cuban restaurant Versailles, and even easier to get, along with a cup of the signature caffe con leche, an anti-Havana soundbite.

For decades, Versailles is the Cuban touchstone in Miami, Florida, where large numbers of Cuban immigrants live, and a gathering place for people who tend to speak strongly against the government across the Florida Straits.

"Nothing is going to change in Havana after the U.S. restored relations with Cuba," mid-aged Cuban-American Manuel Gonzalez said outside the restaurant in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, after lashing out at the Cuban government.

Cuba and the U.S. have reopened their embassies in each other's capital after the end of estrangement between the former Cold War rivals for more than five decades. Despite the rapprochement, Washington and Havana still have considerable differences over issues such as human rights and the U.S. economic and trade embargo against Cuba.

"The U.S. mends ties with Cuba solely for economic purposes," said Ed Gomes, whose mother was Cuban and who was born in Florida. "Why should the U.S. bother trading with faraway countries when you can do -- say sugar -- business with the island nation 90 miles away?"

Their opinion is echoed by another Cuban-American who only gave his name Frank. He has immigrated to the U.S. for more than 40 years but still speaks little English.

"This new relationship is no good," Frank said outside the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami, adding that he saw no real trust between the two governments in spite of the thaw of relations. U.S. President Barack Obama visited the church in May to pay his respects to the Cuban-American diaspora that worship there.

In contrast, the younger generation of Cuban-Americans, as well as immigrants from other Latin American countries, generally hails the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana.

"I think it's cool," said a 23-year-old woman named Kiki. "The two countries really need to put aside their past and move on."

According to a poll done in late March, just over half, 51 percent, of Cuban-Americans in the U.S. said they were in favor of normalized relations between the two countries, while 40 percent disagreed. Respondents living in Florida were less willing to endorse the policy shift, with only 41 percent agreeing with the White House.

Professor Jorge Duany, Director of the Cuban Research Institute (CRI) at Florida International University, told Xinhua that the Cuban-American community in Miami is divided on the issue of restoration of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

"On the one hand, the older generation tends to be more critical of the opening of embassies; on the other hand, the younger, more recent immigrants tend to support it," Duany said.

The professor also noted that although small groups of Cuban-Americans who are very strongly opposed to any U.S. engagement with the Cuban government still go to the streets to protest, there is less militancy among the Cuban-American public against the Castro government.

"There are different points of view. And those points of view are being expressed in a more civilized way than in the early exile years," he said. Endit