Ana Gonzalez has never seen the country she calls home.
Gonzalez, community service chair for UF's Cuban-American Student Association, was born in Miami and raised Cuban.
Although she and her family traveled around the world, her grandmother refused to be impressed by places they saw.
"'This beach is nice,' she would say, 'but it's not Cuba,'" Gonzalez said.
On April 13, President Barack Obama lifted decades-long restrictions on travel and money transfers from the United States to Cuba.
Forty-seven years ago, President John F. Kennedy issued a trade embargo in hopes of forcing a change in Cuba's communist government, then controlled by Fidel Castro. Now, the country is led by his brother, Raul Castro.
Even though this means Cuban-Americans are free to visit relatives and their homeland unlimited times, many do not support the decision.
Rene Medina, a UF political science senior, said he thinks the United States is giving in when it should be stricter if it wants to promote real change.
"I'm disappointed that we're going back and lifting restrictions without getting anything in exchange for Cubans," he said.
Medina said he is hopeful for a bigger change but does not believe that lifting this ban will lead to anything substantial.
"I don't plan on visiting until there is a democratic government in Cuba," he said.
Gonzalez said this change brings hope to many Cubans.
"It's a tiny step," she said, "but it really does make a difference."
Danisette Torres, CASA's membership director, said allowing tourism to support a socialist government is not going to solve the internal problems Cuba faces.
She said she is hopeful that this is a sign of bigger policy changes to come.
Gonzalez said she understands why some people think negotiating with a communist government is a betrayal of their values and undermines the reasons they left the island, but it is a chance for those who left and their children to go back and help rebuild Cuba.
Gonzalez grew up listening to stories about her grandfather's sugarcane plantation and her parents' visits to nightclubs without any worries about crime.
"I've never heard of a single terrible memory," Gonzalez said.
Torres' parents were also born in Cuba in the 1950s, and they often speak about it with a sense of nostalgia in their voices.
Torres said she would like to experience the same Cuba her parents did and does not plan on going there until the regime is over and the government returns certain freedoms to its citizens.
When she does go to Cuba, Torres said, she wants see her relatives who are still there.
After that, she wants to visit the parks next to her parents' houses that she heard about in stories, see the beaches and play dominoes with old Cuban men.
