With relations restored, Cubans in US see more contact with relatives

The flight from Miami to Havana takes just 45 minutes, but the passengers lining up to check in are hardly traveling light.

They are lugging big TVs, bulky bags of non-perishable food like canned goods and even automobile tires.

And most are burdened with big, heavy suitcases, too, packed with stuff that relatives on the poor communist-run island cannot find or cannot afford. And for now, these trips can only be made on expensive charter flights.

But with Cuba and the United States due to open embassies Monday as they restore diplomatic ties, Cubans making the trek back to the island hope it will be easier and cheaper to help their families there.

"So long as there are relations, it is going to be better for the people," said Ernesto Rodriguez, 47, one of the Cuban emigres waiting to check in for a flight to Havana.

He has lived in the United States for more than a decade, and makes the trip back home every two years.

This time, his bulky luggage is loaded mainly with clothes for his 23-year-old son, a physical education teacher in Cuba.

Rodriguez left his family behind 12 years ago when he came to America to try his luck, as do thousands of Cubans every year. Rodriguez now works for an import-export company.

He said that with the agreement announced this month to restore relations after a 50-year hiatus dating back to the height of the Cold War, it might be easier to travel to the island more often.

"The situation is chaotic" on the island from an economic standpoint, said Rodriguez. So he takes with him as much as he can on each trip.

- Expensive air fares -

In the line to check in on this charter flight, one of several that take off from Miami every day for Havana and other Cuban cities, just about everybody is lugging huge suitcases.

Rodriguez, like many Cuban Americans who travel home without restrictions, complains of the high cost of the charter flights -- the only ones that currently go directly from the US to Cuba.

The flight costs about $500 for a trip of less than an hour. By comparison, a three-hour flight to JFK airport in New York can go for as little as $200.

Rodriguez says he is excited about news that there may be ferry service to Cuba later this year, and more airlines flying to the island.

"The fares are very expensive. They are sure to come down once there are more options," Rodriguez said.

Javier Rodriguez, another Cuban traveler, aged 50, also expressed hope the new US-Cuban relationship will mean more Cubans visiting relatives back home.

He also sees more trips by Americans, currently barred from traveling to Cuba as mere tourists.

Instead, they have to fit into one of 12 special categories such as travel for academic, cultural, sports or religious reasons.

With more visitors, "of course people benefit. The government benefits, but so do everyday Cubans," said Rodriguez.

"There is a lot of contact between tourists and the Cuban people. In one way or another there are benefits."

Rodriguez lives in Miami, home to about half of the two million Cubans who reside in the United States.

He got here about two years ago and was headed home for the first time with his wife and teenage daughter to see relatives.

But his people in Havana tell him that "so far, you do not see much change," Rodriguez said.

- New travelers -

But not everyone is brimming with hope.

A man in line who identified himself only as Luis said the restoration of relations will have no impact.

"Of course not," he said, refusing to comment further out of fear he might get in trouble for it in Cuba.

Indeed, after a half century of enmity and suspicion, many Cuban-Americans are distrustful. Many of those waiting to board the flight to Havana refused to speak to AFP.

But some Cubans who traveled in the other direction to visit relatives in the United States did express optimism.

"Many Cubans here who have never gone to Cuba so far will probably want to go," especially if the air fares come down, said Ana Maria Urizarri, a retired teacher aged 72.

She was returning to Havana after staying in the US for two months to see her sister.

"Cuba was always paradise," said Urizarri, adding that having more Americans visit the island will bring prosperity.