Normalization of US-Cuba Relations to 'Score Points' for Obama’s Legacy

© AP Photo / Pablo Martinez MonsivaisPresident Barack Obama
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Experts claim that Barack Obama decided to shift US policy toward Cuba and the move would secure his legacy.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Barack Obama decided to shift US policy toward Cuba and the move would secure his legacy, experts told Sputnik on Friday.

"President Obama moved [the approach toward Cuba] because he had reached his ‘lame duck’ stage and wanted to secure his legacy," Florida International University Cuban Research Institute Associate Director Sebastian Arcos told Sputnik. "Cuba was the low-hanging fruit."

In December 2014, Obama, who is currently serving his last term as the US president, announced plans to normalize US-Cuba relations, remove Havana from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and reopen embassies in the capitals of the two nations.

On Friday, US and Cuban government delegations met in Havana for the symbolic restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries after 54 years of disengagement. US marines raised the American flag over the embassy in a historic ceremony presided by Secretary of State John Kerry.

US Secretary of State John Kerry - Sputnik International
Only Congress Can Lift US Trade Embargo Against Cuba - Kerry
University at Buffalo Professor Henry Taylor told Sputnik that President Obama has been freed from the burden of re-election, which has allowed him to pursue "long coveted" policies such as healthcare reform.

"During the closing years of his presidency, Obama is focusing on the legacy issue," Taylor said.

Taylor, who is also a director of Center for Urban Studies, suggested that the official reopening of the US embassy in Havana will help to increase the momentum for removing the US trade embargo on Cuba as well as strengthen the Cuban activist movement.

The expert warned, however, that Cubans may face tensions as the country opens a new chapter in its relations with the United States.

"There will be tensions between Cubans on the island and those in Miami," Taylor said. "There will be tensions between the exporters of US style capitalism and democracy and the Cubans want to continue to develop a socialist nation."

US-Cuba diplomatic relations were officially restored on July 20 when the two countries reopened their embassies in Havana and Washington, DC.

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