President Barack Obama is in Cuba — marking the first time a sitting U.S. President has visited the communist country since the 1920s.
Obama is meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, as the two talk about moving toward “normalized relations” and ending the U.S. trade embargo.
Exiled Cubans here in the Miami Valley are watching the president’s visit closely.
NewsCenter 7’s John Bedell spoke on Monday with a Cuban exile who’s lived in Dayton most of his life.
Bob Chabali has lived in the area since he was 8 years old. His family left Cuba to escape what he called “an incredibly repressive” dictatorship, and said he has mixed feelings about renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba and the president’s visit to the communist island.
“While I was young, I still remember it in living color,” Chabali said.
Chabali said he experienced the oppressive Castro regime first-hand as a 5-year-old child as his family tried to leave the country in 1961.
“We were at the airport actually getting ready to load up when my dad’s name was called over the intercom,” Chabali said.
He was told to report to a counter, and the Cuban secret police were waiting and took Chabali’s father into custody. He was falsely accused in a plot against Fidel Castro — a way to silence anti-communist Cubans.
The family was forced to pay a government liaison to “clean up their case.”
“It was basically blackmail,” Chabali said.
The Chabali’s were not allowed back into their home. After more than a year in a hotel, his father was cleared of the false allegations.
The family flew to Spain when Chabali was 7, and spent the next 17 months as refugees before coming to America and eventually settling in Dayton.
Chabali says there are mixed feelings among the Cuban exile population about the U.S. re-opening relations with their country.
“I, personally, have felt that it’s probably time to open up relations,” he said.
But he said he is not sure about President Obama making a visit to the impoverished island.
“I think what is challenging is that the president of the biggest, most powerful nation, democratic nation in the free world, is visiting a nation — Cuba — that is one of the most repressive regimes in the world without any concessions,” Chabali said.
Chabali said he doesn’t think the U.S. re-opening relations with Cuba will eventually lead to a better life for Cubans and allow exiles to go back without repercussions. He added he won’t consider going back for at least another five years.
“My desire is to go back at some point in time, but not anytime soon,” Chabali said.