The heart of Union City’s Cuban neighborhood is 43rd Street, which was renamed Celia Cruz Way for the Cuban-born singer who defected in 1960. On that block stands the tallest building in Union City, one which once housed embroidery factories. Now the tenants include a Dominican-owned dressmaking factory and a Cuban-owned fabric company. The building is not fully occupied.

Across the street looms the Union of Ex-Political Prisoners of Cuba, with signs posted on the windows remembering those who are still not free. The group, founded in 1980, still meets on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

“I am so happy because Castro destroyed my family in more than one way,” said Jose Gutierrez-Solana, 75, who had been a political prisoner for 10 years and is the group’s secretary. “He destroyed all of our country. We wanted to kill him. This is one step to a different country.”

But how much will things really change, since Mr. Castro’s younger brother, Raúl, is still in charge? “No, they don’t change anything,” Mr. Gutierrez-Solana said. “They are in power and they do whatever they want.”

That is the sentiment shared by certain retirees who gather in the local restaurants with newspapers to trade gossip about life and the country they have not seen for a half-century.

From El Artesano, Mr. Morales headed to El Unico, another nearby restaurant, to continue his day. In a Fairway market bag, he carried the Cuban newspaper “Libre,” sent from Miami, to share.