MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY:  On the one hand, it is great to reopen these relationships. On the other hand, I worry about American tourists and the ways 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’s a downside to our economic ties opening up with Cuba, for Cuba! 

JOHN GUTIERREZ: For me, let me take the opposite position here, which is that 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. 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: I hear you, I do, but there’s still this kind of cultural hegemony clash that can exist.