MIAMI, Florida — Isabella Prio was born in Miami, is 20 now and a junior at Boston College who fully expects to return to Cuba someday and help shape the island’s future. But she’s never been to the country where her grandfather was once president and refuses to visit until it’s a democracy.
Cherie Cancio, 29, also was born in Miami and runs tours to the island for young Cuban-Americans eager to explore their heritage.
Two daughters of exile. Both passionate in wanting to affect change in a country that has been in the grasp of the Castro brothers’ authoritarian rule for decades, but very different in their approaches. For the hundreds of thousands of children like Prio and Cancio born of Cuban exiles — some two and three generations removed from the island — Fidel Castro’s death potentially opens a door to a world long off-limits. Or at the least, it seems to bring it within closer reach.
Millennial Cuban-Americans say Castro’s death at the age of 90 symbolically offers hope for improved dialogue between the countries. Some thought the dialogue had begun under President Barack Obama, who visited Cuba in March. But with President-elect Donald Trump, the future of diplomacy between the two countries is uncertain.
“It’s definitely in the hands of the young people to take it over,” Prio said. “We just have to be careful about how we go about it.” — AP
