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Exiles express outrage, surprise and support for US-Cuba plans to normalize relations

Associated Press
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Anti-Castro activists Osvaldo Hernandez, right, and Miguel Saavedra, second from right, chant anti-Obama slogans in the Little Havana area of Miami, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014. Hernandez and Saavedra express their disagreement with a surprise move announced by senior Obama administration officials that could pave the way for a major shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island nation. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2013 file image from TV, U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, in the rain for a memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela. Obama on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014 declared the end of America's "outdated approach" to Cuba, announcing the re-establishment of diplomatic relations as well as economic and travel ties with the communist island — a historic shift in U.S. policy that aims to bring an end to a half-century of Cold War enmity. (AP Photo/SABC Pool, File) (The Associated Press)

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the son of Cuban immigrants, prepares for a news conference where he expressed his disappointment in President Barack Obama's initiative to normalize relations between the US and Cuba, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (The Associated Press)

News of a historic thaw in Cuban-American relations led many to expect mass protests from the anti-Castro exile community in Miami.

But outrage in the city has been decidedly muted and demonstrations have turned out few opponents to President Barack Obama's plan to re-establish diplomatic ties with the communist island.

A handful of protests popped up Wednesday, with people waving signs criticizing Obama.

But elsewhere, the news brought praise and even applause among Cuban-Americans who said it is time for a new approach after decades of failed efforts to isolate the island's leaders.