MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry stated “I worry about American tourists and the ways that we can sometimes be a plague” in a discussion on the US opening up its relations with Cuba on Saturday.

“On the one hand, it is great, to reopen these relationships. On the other hand, I worry about American tourists and the ways that we can sometimes be a plague on the rest of the world, particularly in these nations that become high-tourist economies, and I’m wondering if there is a downside to our economic ties opening up with Cuba for Cuba” she said.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice Associate Professor John Gutierrez disagreed, arguing “I think we have to stop fetishizing the Cuba of old cars and run-down architecture. Cubans are entitled to a good standard of living, and that may mean having a Home Depot in Cuba. And I think we need to respect that. So, before we worry so much about whether or not the arrival of American capitalism changes something in Cuba, I think we need to recognize that Cubans have for 50 years been denied many of the basics of modern life.”

Harris-Perry added, “I hear you, but there’s still this kind of cultural hegemony — clash that — can exist.”

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