Latin America Initiative

It would take a major negative event to derail this process [of normalization between the U.S. and Cuba]. There will be lots of starts and stops, but the moves on Dec. 17 look big enough to sustain momentum for some time to come.

It's a very entrenched regime in Cuba, but the U.S. government is betting that in the long run, as the country opens up economically and the private sector grows, all of this will create lots of pressures for more open, pluralistic politics.