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<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Pedro Portal<\/p>\n
pportal@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Everyone in South Florida has their eyes set on Cuba, where leader Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday acknowledged talks were underway with the Trump administration, a notion that has spurred hope and skepticism across Miami\u2019s exile community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more than time for this to happen,\u201d Angela De Zayas, 70, said while standing outside of Versailles restaurant in Miami Friday. \u201cI am more inclined to hope that is a conversation and not a negotiation, because I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything to negotiate other than the fact that the Cuban people need to be free.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Zayas and her family left Cuba for Spain in 1969 when she was 13 and then came to the U.S. a year later. It was 2008 when she returned to Cuba with her teenage daughter to visit family in Camaguey.<\/p>\n
She had nightmares every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a horrible, horrible experience, not because of my family … but you could feel the oppression,\u201d she recalled. She vowed to never return unless Cuba is free. The Cuba-U.S. talks are a good start, she said.<\/p>\n
Diaz-Canel confirmed that the country was undergoing talks with the Trump administration on Friday, a day after announcing the release of 51 prisoners<\/a> as the country grapples with an ongoing economic and energy crisis, including blackouts and shortages of gas, food, medicine and an ongoing investigation into a deadly shootout involving a Florida-registered boat<\/a> off the island\u2019s coast. President Donald Trump has been urging the Cuban government to make a deal, with members of his administration holding talks<\/a> similar to those that were done with Venezuela leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro before he was captured in a military raid earlier this year, as the Miami Herald has reported.<\/p>\n The news has Cuban-American lawmakers and others across the community rejoicing over what they see as the first signs of a possible turning point for Cuba.<\/p>\n State Rep. Omar Blanco, a Miami Republican whose parents fled the island after Fidel Castro seized power, said he was \u201call in\u201d on Trump\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took a non-Cuban president to understand what it means to live with dignity and to be able to provide food and shelter,\u201d Blanco said. \u201cIt\u2019s not gonna happen overnight, but for the first time in 60 years there will be hope for the Cuban people.\u201d<\/p>\n With the Trump administration projecting strength in Venezuela and Iran, Blanco said he is confident Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio can push Cuba toward change. He described their approach as \u201cdiametrically opposed\u201d to the Obama administration\u2019s strategy of \u201cnegotiating with a communist regime.\u201d<\/p>\n But there\u2019s a large wave of skepticism whether the talks will actually lead to positive change.<\/p>\n For Rep. Alex Rizo, another first-generation Cuban-American representing Miami, Cuba\u2019s prisoner release \u201cmay signal something positive, but it\u2019s \u201ca tiny little step in a much larger gesture that must be made.\u201d<\/p>\n Rizo said meaningful change in Cuba would require far more sweeping steps: the peaceful resignation of the current government, democratic elections and significant support from the international community to rebuild the island\u2019s shattered economy and infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they don\u2019t have that support they\u2019ll continue crumbling,\u201d Rizo said. \u201cIt\u2019s not even crumbling \u2014 it\u2019s already crumbled.\u201d<\/p>\n Blanco said he doesn\u2019t believe the Cuban government\u2019s calls for exiles to return, and help rebuild the country, are sincere, echoing a wary sentiment that can be felt across Miami\u2019s exile community and their families.<\/p>\n De Zayas, for example, isn\u2019t buying Diaz-Canal\u2019s offer to Cuban exiles. \u201cIt\u2019s a set-up,\u201d she said. Neither is Waldo Toyos, a 24-year-old Cuban-American, whose grandparents fled persecution and violence in Cuba. His grandfather, who told him to never go to Cuba, witnessed his siblings be killed in firing squads.<\/p>\n \u201cI want the best for the Cuban people,\u201d Toyos said. \u201cI hope they can find peace, but the government could go kick rocks. If it helps the Cuban people along in the long run, then I\u2019ll support that. But you can\u2019t trust a government that\u2019s killed multiple, multiple people.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Congressman Carlos Gimenez didn\u2019t mince words on Friday, posting on X that Cuba will not see any investment from the U.S. \u201cunless there are DECESIVE political changes on the island.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe regime needs us, we don\u2019t need them,\u201d Gimenez wrote, noting in another post that \u201cPresident Trump is very direct: for better or for worse. If they [Cuba] opt for the worse, they already know what the fate of all these bandits will be. Hold yourselves accountable for the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8El Presidente Trump es muy directo: a las buenas o las malas. <\/p>\n Si optan por las malas, ya saben cu\u00e1l ser\u00e1 el destino de todos estos bandidos.<\/p>\n At\u00e9nganse a las consecuencias. https:\/\/t.co\/mH9bqDNtNs<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) March 13, 2026<\/a> \u2018We stand with the Cuban people,\u2019 Miami-Dade mayor says<\/p>\n Other South Florida politicians such as Miami Republican U.S. Rep Maria Elvira Salazar have also pointed out that Cuba\u2019s decision to release 51 of the more than 1,000 prisoners it has as a sign of \u201cgood will\u201d is not enough to make up for the 67 years of repression and persecution the Cuban people have faced.<\/p>\n \u201cReleasing 51 political prisoners is not justice,\u201d Salazar wrote on X Thursday. \u201cJustice is when the last political prisoner walks free. And that will only happen when the longest-running and most brutal dictatorship in our hemisphere falls.\u201d<\/p>\n Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava shared similar sentiments in a statement, noting that \u201cTrue justice will come when no one in Cuba is jailed for demanding their basic rights … We stand with the Cuban people and with the many families still waiting for the day when Cuba is free and its people can live without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n For generations, the Cuban dictatorship has repressed those who speak out for freedom. Today\u2019s announcement that 51 prisoners will be released brings hope to many families. But true justice will come when no one in Cuba is jailed for their beliefs and Cuba is free. pic.twitter.com\/wQulszgekd<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Daniella Levine Cava (@MayorDaniella) March 13, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n The wish for freedom is what led Father Eliosbel Pereira Almaguer to pray Firday for the people in countries under tyranny \u2013\u2013 and for their leaders to do what is right and just. Almaguer faced about two dozen parishioners at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, the Roman Catholic church named after the patroness of Cuba near Coconut Grove, on Friday afternoon. Afterward, he told the Miami Herald he hopes the negotiations result in something positive for the people, who have suffered under oppression in Cuba. \u201cThat\u2019s what we wish for, and that\u2019s why we pray,\u201d Amlaguer said. Almaguer said his message to the Cuban people: keep their confidence in God. \u201cAs Christians, we have to ask God\u2026 when things are not in our hands \u2026 [and] put the matter in God\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante<\/a><\/p>\n Miami Herald<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health\u2019s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald\u2019s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.\u00a0![\"Groups](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MIA_204Cubareaction13NEWPPP.JPG\" "\\"MIA_204Cubareaction13NEWPPP.JPG\\"")
Groups of mostly tourist line up to eat at the iconic Versailles Cuban Cuisine Restaurant in Miami, hours after Cuban leader Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel had confirmed that Havana is in the midst of talks with the Trump administration, on Friday, March 13, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com \u2018Hope for the Cuban people,\u2019 said Miami lawmaker<\/p>\n
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