Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, the 43-year-old Cuban American from Florida, voiced his opposition of the Obama administration's renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba, but his sentiments could be related to his generation and a community with a rapidly changing opinion on both country's policies.

In a statement following President Barack Obama's announcement to reopen diplomatic ties with the communist island, Rubio said, "[Cuba] colludes with America's enemies, near and far, to threaten us and everything we hold dear. But most importantly, the regime's brutal treatment of the Cuban people has continued unabated. Dissidents are harassed, imprisoned and even killed. Access to information is restricted and controlled by the regime. That is why even more than just putting U.S. national security at risk, President Obama is letting down the Cuban people, who still yearn to be free."

While Obama said democracy and human rights will still remain an issue in Cuba, Rubio's opinions could be a representation of two divides within the Cuban community. American culture and sociology professor Silvia Pedraza from the University of Michigan told Latin Post that several divides exists "that make a difference" on U.S. and Cuban policies, but two were considered the most important.

Pedraza, who was born and raised in Cuba before immigrating to the U.S. when she was 12 years old, highlighted the age divide within the Cuban community. She said, "Younger Cubans oppose the embargo because they are young Americans who have not suffered what their parents suffered and more often identity with the Democratic Party -- as do other Latinos. They are Latinos, not just Cubans, and they behave as such."

In contrast, and as Pedraza acknowledged, older Cubans hold much different views than the Cuban youth. She said, "Older Cubans, however, suffered the slings and arrows of being disposed of their homes, their jobs, careers, families, and of the humiliation that went along with being pushed out of their country by the sharp turn the Cuban revolution took towards communism. Many fought against this, many became political prisoners."

Distinct from the youth, the older Cuban population has identified themselves with the Republican Party. According to Pedraza, older Cubans shared the GOP's "anti-communist cause" notably during President Ronald Reagan's tenure and "because to them, the Bay of Pigs fiasco was the result of [President John F. Kennedy's] betrayal, so they turned away from the Democratic Party then."

Another divide that affects Cuban Americans' view on the normalization of U.S. and Cuba affairs is the relationship between early and recent exiles.

According to Pedraza, author of "Political Disaffection in Cuba's Revolution and Exodus," the early exiles that came to the U.S. between 1959 and 1974 have neither family members in Cuba or people they are still actively connected with. The early exiles still share the notion of not renewing diplomatic relations with Cuba and continuing the embargo in order to "undermine the Cuban regime." This was also noted in Florida International University's (FIU) Cuban Research Institute's (CRI) "2014 FIU Cuba Poll: How Cuban Americans in Miami View U.S. Policies Toward Cuba" survey, which polled 1,000 Cuban-Americans in the Miami-Dade County. Age groups 30 years old and above held stronger support of the embargo's continuation than the 18- to 29-year-old group.

"The new exiles, by contrast, still have family in Cuba they actively seek to help out," said Pedraza, who identified the recent exiles as individuals coming to the U.S. after 1989, following the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. "Most were hungry in Cuba and know what it means to be hungry, so they return to help their families and they send money back. They would like to see the end of the embargo so that the material quality of people's lives would improve in Cuba."

As Latin Post reported, the incoming 114th Congress will include Rubio as the chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee's Western Hemisphere subcommittee. According to Rubio, he will utilize the position to "make every effort to block this dangerous and desperate attempt by the President to burnish his legacy at the Cuban people's expense."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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