Revolution Evolution

Cubans of all ages now say that there are simply too many relatives in the United States who come back to visit regularly to justify the idea of perpetual conflict.

“It’s the same revolution in a totally different phase,” said Anabel Bollet, 22, a fifth-year law student. The changes announced this week, she said, amount to a historic but subtle “adjustment.” It is not peace. Rather, she added, “it’s a way to resolve the conflict without guns.”

To some degree, many Cubans argued, the openness of Mr. Obama and Raúl to normalized political relations amounts to a classic case of government catching up with the people.

Ever since Mr. Obama opened unlimited travel and remittances to Cuban-Americans in 2009, followed by Raúl’s easing of limits on travel for Cubans, a steady flow of Cubans and dollars has strengthened the filial bonds that were severed during the revolution between Cubans on opposite sides of the Florida straits.

This is the United States-Cuba relationship that a growing number of Cubans know, understand and cherish, no matter where they are. The distrust and defiance that their leaders are only now addressing is more of a backdrop.

- Damien Cave
Article