Local Woman Hails Improved Relations With Cuba
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- When President Obama addressed the nation with word that he was going to normalize relations with Cuba, one local woman was watching intently.
"Oh, I think it is so about time," Mt. Lebanon resident Lisa Valenti told KDKA political editor Jon Delano. "The majority of the American public doesn't see any reason why we should treat Cuba, which is only 90 miles away, with isolation."
Valenti is president of the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association and has visited Cuba many times. She says Pittsburgh has a sister city in Cuba.
"Since 1996, we've had an official relationship with the city of Matanzas in Cuba, which is also their three rivers city, and it's the city of bridges," says Valenti. "And it is also the province where the Bay of Pigs occurred."
That's where a CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by Cuban Americans during the first months of the Kennedy administration failed miserably and led to years of recrimination and isolation between the two countries.
Valenti says turning a new page will be good for Pittsburgh and its diverse Cuban-American community.
"Like everything else, there is a broad spectrum of experience and history," she said.
And as relations thaw, she thinks Pittsburgh will play a leadership role in promoting business, educational and cultural exchanges with Cuba.
"This is as huge as when Nixon opened up China, and hopefully it will end up in a similar fashion," noted Valenti.
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