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 Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the United States relied on
the small dissident movement to lead domestic opposition to Cuba's
communist government and keep track of human rights abuses.
So after Obama last week tore up the tough, decades-old policy aimed
at crippling Cuba, some dissidents feel betrayed and unsure of their
movement, which infuriates the government and has limited public
support.
The United States will still encourage Cubans to push for more
political rights but it now has its own direct channel to President
Raul Castro's government, raising uncertainty about the dissidents'
future value to the Americans.
While some dissident leaders welcomed the policy shift for stripping
Cuba's government of excuses for economic shortages and strict
political control, others complained the deal was negotiated without
their knowledge and against their will.
"President Obama has made a mistake," said Berta Soler, leader of
the Ladies in White, a largely Roman Catholic group that has protest
marches each Sunday. "This is going to benefit the Cuban government,
strengthening and equipping its repressive machine."
 While her group was marching on the streets, enduring harassment and
detention, the U.S. government was engaged in secret talks with
Havana over the past 18 months.
Guillermo Fariñas, who was detained like clockwork at 38 consecutive
weekly protests outside his home this year in the city of Santa
Clara, was even more blunt.
"I feel betrayed," said Fariñas, who was bothered by the secrecy of
the talks and said the views of dissidents were discounted. "I know
some people are offended by that word, but I use it on purpose."
Fariñas was in the minority during a landmark meeting of 29
dissidents from across Cuba who gathered for 10 hours on Monday at
the office of 14ymedio, the news and opinion website of prominent
blogger Yoani Sanchez.
Soler did not attend. Other senior dissident leaders either welcomed
Obama's policy shift or accepted it as a reality beyond their
control.
In a joint statement, they applauded the prisoner swap that allowed
the release of U.S. foreign aid worker Alan Gross and more than 50
unidentified Cuban prisoners.
A U.S. official described the freed Cubans as political prisoners,
but the dissidents have yet to confirm any of their people were
released, leaving them wondering who exactly the United States
fought to get free.
SEEKING UNITY
Participants in the meeting said they aired their differences inside
but then agreed to present a united front. Reporters and diplomats
were banned and all 29 dissidents placed their cell phones in a
basket for the entire 10 hours.
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Veteran leader Elizardo Sanchez declined to define the sharpest
points of disagreement, but said they all recognized that Obama's
move required a new approach to pressuring the government and
seeking popular support. "With this change, the discourse of the
government has to change, and so does ours ... Now is the time for
us to readjust our tactics due to the changing political scene,"
Sanchez said.
They have only just started thinking about what those tactics might
be.
Cuba's government routinely accuses dissidents of being
"mercenaries" of the U.S. government and many Cubans are skeptical
about their motives, believing they are driven by the modest
economic aide afforded by foreign groups.
Still, Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba,
said he was optimistic. "There's a new dynamic and we think it will
be very positive for the future of Cuba."
The 29 reaffirmed their demands for multiparty elections, the
release of all political prisoners and respect for the United
Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
But the discord from the Ladies in White was notable.
Images of Cuban police roughing up the Ladies in White at
demonstrations have raised their profile, placing them among the
most celebrated dissidents in the United States, along with Yoani
Sanchez.
She has yet to offer strong opinions about the U.S. policy change,
but other young dissidents have decided to embrace it.
 "The worst thing we can do is cry about what happened," said Eliecer
Avila, 29, the leader of Somos Mas (We Are More). "We should take
Raul and Obama at their word. There was never a better opportunity
than now for us bring our peoples together, and this is an
opportunity we should not pass up."
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Rosa Tania Valdés; Editing by Kieran
Murray)
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