Young Cuban-American groups emerge as Obama allies

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - For a handful of Cuban-Americans, President Barack Obama's new Cuba policy wasn't much of a shocker.

For months, they quietly advised the White House in hopes of shaping a new policy towards the communist-run nation.

"A lot of what the president announced is what we, and others in Miami, have been doing for a long time," said Felice Gorordo, co-founder of Roots of Hope, a non-partisan group of Cuban-American university students and young professionals.

<snip>

"There is a clear understanding in the White House that politically they are going to have to focus on and cultivate the younger generation of Cuban-Americans who are mobilized and out there supporting the president's decision," said Frank Mora, a Cuba scholar at Miami's Florida International University, and a former top Pentagon official for Latin America in the Obama administration.

Obama is going to need that support as he faces opposition from his Republican rivals and the Cuban-American political establishment that opposes closer ties with Cuba.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/21/us-cuba-usa-miami-analysis-idUSKBN0JZ0OY20141221?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews