Historic Meeting Turns Into Personal Visit To Cuba For CBS4 Anchor

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A trip to cover a historic meeting in Cuba became more than that for CBS4's Eliott Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was there to cover the meeting of Pope Francis with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill.

While in Cuba, Rodriguez took a short side trip to visit members of his family after not seeing them for 14 years. He wanted to see how the changes in Cuba were affecting them.

His trip to reconnect with his family started at the Havana Ferry Terminal, where he stood in a long line to buy a ticket for a ferry that took him to Regla - a small town on the other side of Havana Harbor.That's where his father was born and live until he moved to New York. That's where he met his mother who had also left Cuba for a better life in the United States,

Rodriguez's cousin Rosa and husband Orestes were home in the house they've lived in for the past 50 years. They're retired now and miss their son who lives in Miami. Their son recorded a video message on Rodriguez's iPhone for his parents.

As they sat in their simple living room, Rodriguez's cousins told him he reminds them of his father.

As Rodriguez walked down Cespedes Street, he saw another reminder of his father. It was a store.

Before the revolution the store was owned by his family and his dad worked there. Before the revolution, his family members were business owners. After the revolution, the business was taken away and they became employees.

His dad's old store is now owned by the Cuban government and his cousin Javier works there.

He sells basic food supplies, some of them rationed by the government, others sold at a higher price.

Javier surprised Rodriguez by showing him old black and white photos of the store. He could see his dad in some of them. He also noticed a difference in what was on the shelves. The old black and white photos showed shelves stocked with food. Now, they have very little on them.

Rodriguez's family does not discuss politics. His parents made a decision more than half a century ago to leave Cuba and he's grateful for it.

As he walked away from Cespedes Street, ready to leave Regla, he saw signs of how life is changing in the island nation. First, a cruise ship loaded with visitors on the other side of Havana Harbor and a park where people were logging on to the internet.

As he saw the signs of change, he said he was encouraged by seeing members of my his own family connecting with people from all over the world.

After his visit, it was clear the youngest generation of Cubans has the most hope thanks to social media but for all generations, hope and change are coming with a high price tag and happening very slowly.