SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – Dozens of protesters gathered in South Florida to protest the recent announcement by the Cuban dictatorship to allow exiles to invest and own businesses on the island nation and to continue their push for regime change.<\/p>\n
The group stood on the sidewalk outside Tropical Park in Southwest Miami-Dade and Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana on Thursday, holding signs that read \u201cPolitical change first, business later\u201d and \u201cindict Raul Castro.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to support the Cuban people in their quest for freedom. They have suffered long enough. Sixty-seven years is more than enough of oppression without human rights, without liberty, with nothing,\u201d said organizer Sylvia G. Iriondo.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators told 7News they are staunchly against the latest moves, calling the Cuban dictatorship liars.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would be crazy to do business with them! Before, they stole everybody\u2019s business; they took everybody\u2019s business. Why would people go back and do business with them?\u201d said a woman.<\/p>\n
Others said they are hopeful<\/a> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban heritage, will reach a deal that would require a change in leadership on the island nation.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a very personal thing. My family left Cuba when [Fidel] Castro took over, and ever since, they\u2019ve been dreaming about coming back to Cuba, and we were raised knowing that one day, hopefully, Cuba will be free. We really feel that this is coming to a head finally after all these years,\u201d said a woman.<\/p>\n \u201cCuba needs a change, but a true change. The people and the regime responsible for the suffering of the Cuban people cannot be part of the solution. They have to go,\u201d said Iriondo.<\/p>\n This latest protest comes as Cuba continues to struggle under the crippling weight of blackouts<\/a> caused by a fuel shortage and lack of basic resources that have worsened hospitals and slashed public transport.<\/p>\n