letterstopresidentobama:

One year ago, President Obama announced that the United States was charting a new course on Cuba, taking historic steps to normalize relations between our two countries. A Cuban-American, Mercy Pina-Brito wrote to the President for the first time just days later. Here’s what Mercy said:

Our Cuba policy trades isolation for engagement, and enables us to more effectively represent U.S. values in Cuba and empower the Cuban people. Our goal remains the emergence of a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Cuba.

Normalization is a complex, long-term process, and we will continue to work with Cuba to address areas of mutual interest as well as areas of difference. As President Obama said a year ago, change will not happen overnight. But as we mark the one-year anniversary of our announcement, voices like Mercy’s show how far we’ve come.