A bittersweet return to Cuba: a Cuban-American visits his homeland--and hopes for change.

• Author: Fornaris, Fernando
• Position: VOICES

Riding through the narrow, densely packed colonial streets of my birthplace, my emotions escaped me. The bustle of the city was behind me, and the air rushing into the worn-down taxi smelled of burning fuel exhaust from old tractors.

It was February 2007, and I was back in Holguin, Cuba, the city about 400 miles southeast of Havana that I'd left for the U.S. in 1999 at age 8.

The purpose of my visit was to reconnect with those I'd Left behind. Ninety mites of ocean and a vast political, barrier had separated me from cousins, aunts, and neighbors who were once like siblings to me.

After the 1959 revolution, the U.S. imposed trade and travel restrictions to pressure Cuba toward democracy; as a result, Cuban-Americans were not free to visit as they pleased. Last year, President Obama lifted the travel ban for Cuban-Americans, though the trade embargo remains in place.

I was nervous to reunite with my family, but as I walked through the tall colonial, doors of the house I once lived in, my nerves disappeared amid my family's hugs and tears. I was surprised by how quickly our rapport was re-established. I'm an only child, but my Cuban cousins treated me like their brother, and I felt a toss for the years I'd spent apart from them and my native country.

Walking the streets of Holguin, a city of about 300,000, I soon discovered that Cuba's infrastructure is crumbling along with its economy. Like an archived picture, Holguin looks old and decayed. At my cousins' high school, rooms hang from their foundation, and flooding--and bullfrogs--in bathrooms are common.

But the government's focus seems elsewhere. Every street corner is filled with political propaganda--posters and murals urging people to support the revolution. Police stand nearby to...