The Cuban Expats Are Celebrating - The Ones in Mexico, That Is Ioan Grillo - GlobalPost
go to original December 21, 2014

Eugenio Palmeiro makes a much better living in Mexico. (Ioan Grillo/GlobalPost)

Mexico has one of the biggest Cuban immigrant communities after the US. Many are happy Obama's restoring diplomatic relations with Havana, and hoping for an end to the trade embargo.

The 2010 census found 12,000 Cubans living here, and there are likely many more not counted as they reside without papers.

Most immigrated looking for better opportunities than they found in Cuba, and complain about the poverty in their homeland. But they tend to be less antagonistic toward the Castro regime than much of Miami’s Cuban community traditionally has been. Like many Cubans living around the world, they hope that Obama’s surprise action will lead to more prosperity for their families back home, and perhaps could allow them to return in the future.

Eugenio Palmeiro, who is 50, came to Mexico 14 years ago, and says he has done very well with his stall selling Cuban ice cream. “It is a paradise here in Mexico,” Palmeiro says. “In Cuba I was in a professional job making $20 a month. Here I sell ice cream and live very well.”

He hopes the restoring of diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington will lead to the end of the US trade embargo.

Read the whole story at GlobalPost

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