Amid Cheers, Direct Charter From Miami Lands in Cuba

Cubans welcomed the first direct charter flight between the United States and Cuba in two years Wednesday, greeting more than 200 passengers from Miami with screams, waves and tears.

It was also an emotional moment for those arriving, who clapped and cheered as Cuba came into view from the air, then wept when they saw their relatives waiting for them in the airport terminal.

Angel Perera said he and his wife, Mirely, who now live in Miami, hardly slept the night before in anticipation of seeing loved ones they had not seen in years.

“It isn’t easy to see your country in ruin--your friends, your family, practically with nothing,” said Perera, who left Cuba four years ago with one daughter and came back with two. The couple’s second child, now 18 months old, was born in the United States.

The flight ended a two-year ban meant to punish the Communist island for shooting down two unarmed U.S. civilian planes.

The resumption of flights means that families separated by the Florida Straits can see each other more easily, without having to spend more money to fly to a third country such as the Bahamas or Mexico.

The flight coincided with new restrictions announced by the U.S. government on sea protests against Cuba’s government by Cuban exiles.

In a move that angered hard-line exiles, U.S. authorities declared almost all of Florida’s coast a “security zone,” requiring small, privately owned vessels that leave from almost anywhere in Florida to get permits before entering Cuban territorial seas.

The restrictions had previously applied only to part of the Florida coast.

Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Miami-based Cuban American Democracy Movement, said he considered the measure an “infamy” aimed against his group, which carries out sea protests against Cuban President Fidel Castro.