Visits to Cuba from U.S. help bring families, nations closer together

[Say_What]

The times they are a-changin'

<clips>

HAVANA, Cuba - (KRT) - When Julio Gomez spirited his family out of Cuba in 1962, he thought he'd be gone for a few fleeting months. But the months turned to years, and the Rev. Gomez never made it back - until now.

The 71-year-old retired Methodist preacher put old grudges aside and returned for a family reunion, joining a growing number of Cuban-Americans who are going back to their homeland to mend decades-old wounds. And he called the experience "delicious. I'm glad I did it."

Such trips, some Cuban-American leaders say, are the most important driving force behind an eventual normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba.

Family reunification - not American foreign policy - is what's slowly bringing the two countries closer together, they say.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/world/7131014.htm