Despite Uncertain Future, Cubans See Changed Landscape
Despite Uncertain Future, Cubans See Changed Landscape
The opening of the U.S. embassy in Havana is both symbolic and practical. It signals the U.S. support to doing business with Cuba, says AS/COA’s Alana Tummino.
HAVANA, CUBA — Odalys Garcia, 38, was explaining why she teared up watching the flag-raising ceremony in Havana Friday.
"It had been so many things for so long — the hate, the arguments. But for the last few months, I have seen how things are really changing, and I realized my son was born in a new era," said Garcia, a television producer and mother of an 8-month-old son who has been helping NBC crews during the last few frenetic days in the country's capital....
..."We've had over five decades of acrimony — I think it's going to take time for leaders on both sides of the Florida straits to really reach an accommodation if you will," said Gustavo Arnavat, former executive director of the Intergovernmental Development Bank under President Barack Obama, and who is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Havana Friday.
Arnavat says that after 55 years, Raul Castro's government has been making some changes on the economic front, such as promoting an increase in the independent business sector....
...Alana Tummino, the director of policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas, tells NBC that the opening of the embassy has been both practical and symbolic.
"It's a way of giving insurance that the U.S. supports a company that imagines doing business with Cuba," she said....
