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Q: With normalization, do you see Cuba once again becoming a “playground” for American tourists, although presumably with less mob influence?

A: There are already quite a lot of (American) tourists going there, but they have to be organized in groups that are “people to people” and have meaningful contact with the Cuban people — and not just lying on the beach. But now, a large flow of American tourists is quite possible, although I don’t know that it will be exactly the way it was in the 1950s. Whether (normalization) will ever lead to the kind of relationship we had before 1959, I’m quite doubtful.

Q: Soon after the Berlin Wall came down, former East Germans started experiencing “Ostalgie,” a sentimental longing for the simplicity of living under communism. When Cubans look back to the embargo era, do you think there will be a similar sense of nostalgia?

A: If prices go up for things like medical services, there is bound to be some nostalgia for that, and I think you found a similar phenomenon in East Germany. But also, they might have nostalgia for the days when everyone felt they were equal citizens of a revolutionary society — and that cachet is gone. But I would guess that for the most part, Cubans will not look back with any tremendous positive nostalgia.

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Q: With closer ties to the U.S., do you see Cuba turning into a China or a Vietnam? An ostensibly communist country that wholeheartedly embraces a market economy?

A: I think it could go that way. But there are some things that could be very different, and one of them is that the government will want to keep a much firmer hand on the ownership of businesses. I think there’s a fear that there could be alternative centres of economic power, and this in turn could challenge the regime. That’s not unknown in China or Vietnam, but I think the feeling is stronger in Cuba.