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               State of the Union Guests Split on US-Cuba Policy

   by Victoria Macchi

   When President Barack Obama takes the podium Tuesday night in his first
   State of the Union address since re-establishing a diplomatic dialogue
   with Havana, at least four people in the audience will be intently
   listening to what he says about Cuba.  And they will not be U.S.
   lawmakers.

   At the invitation of the White House, former detainee and government
   contractor Alan Gross and his wife, Judy, are scheduled to attend, one
   month after his release from a Cuban prison.

   On the other side of the partisan divide are House Speaker John
   Boehner's invitees, dissident Jorge Luis Garcia Perez and his wife,
   Yris Perez Aguilera.

   Along with Marlene Alejandre Triana, the guest of Republican Rep.
   Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the couple were scheduled to attend a news
   conference hours before the speech. Their hosts are a core group of
   lawmakers who oppose the government of Fidel and Raul Castro, and who
   disagree with the U.S. president's new policy of diplomatic
   rapprochement aimed at ending decades of isolationism toward the
   communist country.

   Alejandre Triana's father, Armando Alejandre Jr., was killed when his
   plane was targeted and shot down by the Cuban military in 1996.

   Although the decision to renew ties between Havana and Washington was
   unilateral, Obama needs congressional support to end a U.S. trade
   embargo on the island.

   Despite support from Democrats and some Republicans on the decision,
   the fiercely anti-Castro isolationists spearheaded by Ros-Lehtinen, a
   Florida Republican, have dug in their heels to oppose the president.

   But Carl Meacham, of the Center for Strategic and International
   Studies, said partisan divide did not necessarily mean Congress would
   be at an impasse over the issue.

   "I think we're going to see more change than what we think," he told
   VOA's Latin America service. "I don't know if they are going to lift
   the embargo, but I think that there will be change insofar as how the
   Congress looks at this bilateral policy."

   Formal talks are set to begin Wednesday between U.S. envoys and Cuban
   officials in Havana.

   Both governments need to listen to those affected by their diplomatic
   decisions, said Carlos Ponce, director for Latin America at Freedom
   House, a U.S. nongovernmental organization that promotes democracy,
   freedom and human rights.

   "The Cuban has been suspicious about the whole negotiation process," he
   tells VOA. "The dialogue between the U.S. and Cuba needs to incorporate
   Cubans."

   VOA's Latin America service contributed to this report.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/state-union-guests-split-us-cuba-poli
   cy/2606947.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/state-union-guests-split-us-cuba-policy/2606947.html