Obama leaves Cuba, but Obama effect remains
President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba was heavy on symbolism and light on immediate results, but the after-shocks have the ability to shift Cuba's future, analysts said.
"The most important effect of the whole visit in my view is the 'I can hardly believe my eyes' factor that it is happening," said Paul Webster Hare, who teaches international relations at Boston University.
The three-day visit to Havana was the first by a US president in 88 years and, more importantly, the first since a communist regime took power in the wake of Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, turning Cuba into a Soviet ally and bitter enemy of the United States.
Analysts said that by coming in peace and calling for full restoration of neighborly relations, Obama undermined the decades-old logic that helped keep the Cuban government in power as a self-declared bastion against US imperialism.
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-leaves-cuba-obama-effect-remains-035246336.html
It will be curious to see whether Obama's presence and speech will have an effect similar to the Arab Spring events.
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