I believe that:

1. The US government and the US people all realize that trade sanctions against Cuba haven't worked to bring about a change in leadership, and probably never will.

2. The Cuban government and the Cuban people all realize that the communist system put in place by Castro hasn't created a better life for the Cuban people as it was intended to, and probably never will.

I expect that the communist system in Cuba will follow much the same path as that of China where the government remains officially communist, but the economy is purely capitalist and everyone is free to do as they please to fill their own rice bowl with as much rice as they can.

I can see a powerful economic partnership developing between the USA and Cuba. Cubans, getting paid $2 $US per month, can produce as high quality goods in US owned factories as Chinese workers getting paid $20 $US per month, and I can see that shaking up the economic interdependance that currently exists between the USA and China. I can easily see Cuba becoming the next world manufacturing center, competing with the likes of China and Malaysia. Only, Cuba has a much nicer climate and much nicer beaches than China or Malaysia.