July 14, 2015, marks not only 54 years since the United States ended any diplomatic relations with Cuba, but also the day that certain limitations from the trade embargoes placed on the island nation were lifted. For the first time in over half a century, the U.S. saw the reopening of their embassy on Cuban soil and vice versa for the Cuban embassy stationed in Washington, D.C., waving the long estranged American and Cuban flags together in the wind. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke at the flag raising ceremony.

Going all the way back to World War II, political unease was a common tag applied to Cuba — which is more of an understatement as Fulgencio Batista took up leadership roles as an elected president from 1940 to 1944, later installing himself as a dictatorship regime from 1952 to 1959. Batista let American corporations into Cuba, exploiting the country for its exports and tourism allure. America turned a blind eye on Batista’s shady affairs, from public executions to Mafia relationships — explaining the arranged “business talks” from "The Godfather Part II" — supporting him for his lucrative resources.

The once good, corrupted man was overthrown by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro’s Communist guerrilla fighters in the Cuban Revolution of 1961. Still in the midst of the Cold War, America scrambled to contain any source of global Communist influence. The constricting embargo was a response to Fidel Castro’s welcoming of Soviet Communist leaders into Cuba. Castro became more aware of the ever present danger of America’s opposition as the tyrant put a kibosh on the assault facilitated by American-trained Cuban insurgents, a fiasco infamously known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, more appropriately a massacre. America’s heated resistance to Communist forces almost turned nuclear in 1962, when Castro agreed to house an incoming shipment of Soviet warheads in nuclear missile silos. The Cuban Missile Crisis ended in a stalemate; American navy ships formed a blockade to deter Russian ships from reaching Cuba. The 1961 embargo with many other sanctions were established by President Kennedy to deflect and dissuade international business dealings with Cuba, in an effort to cripple the country and prevent further Communist threats.

Diplomatic talks regarding the embargoes repeals began as private peace talks brokered by Pope Francis. Mutual trust evolved from a forum for potential exchanges of political prisoners. Cuba had 53 imprisoned Americans and Alan Gross, a contractor for the United States Agency for International Development. In a country with restricted Internet access, Gross, claiming to have simply been acting as a humanitarian activist, was incarcerated by Cuban authorities for five years for bringing in technology illegal in Cuba including satellite phones and a chip that allowed Internet use without detection. Explaining "The Godfather"'s Michael Corleone doing business with the Jewish Mafia, who, with Batista's friendship, were in charge of Cuba's gambling. According to the New York Times, America was to give up the remaining members of the Cuban Five, a group of Cuban intelligence officers taken caught in Miami in 1998.

While Cuba has been made out to be a backwards country, it is truthfully a very progressive company. As visiting health care officials and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore can attest to, Cuba has had a fully functioning healthcare program for years, keeping medical services and prescription costs incredibly low, at fractions of what Americans are paying. Without taking into account Cuba's unbalanced political framework, relatively free healthcare, in addition to free education, puts the country's social reform among even some of the more developed countries. CNN quotes Cuban officials calculating that the economic loss through the U.S. embargo has topped over $1 trillion. By limiting the outstanding economic growth Cuba would gain from the U.S., the development of more social programs, and hopefully the government itself, is halted.

President Obama aims to lighten the travel restriction clauses of the embargo. Congress votes on the ultimate repeal of the entirety of an embargo. Cities will stand to profit greatly from American tourists seeking out the beauty of Cuba, a fair tradeoff for the plummeting price of authentic Cuban cigars. Distanced by the ocean to any nation willing to trade, Cuba's economy relies heavily on its ability to trade its abundant resources: sugar, tobacco, coffee beans, et cetera, in ample supply, farmed, packaged and sold. And the trade stimulation benefits both sides of the transactions. Focusing farming efforts on certain materials due to the land's propensity to growing them, Cuba looks to exporters to import oil, various grains, farm animals and their products, and even cars. All things America is highly effective at marketing to other countries.

With official unrestricted travel to Cuba imminent, the financials and property seized from Cubans that left their home comes into dispute again. A contributing factor to the original embargo was Castro's seizure of Cuban land estimated to be worth $50 billion today. Soon allowed re-entry into Cuba through legal means, exiles may plan on filing lawsuits directed at the Cuban government for reimbursement. Whether it is to finalize claims against the government or to return to their roots, some expatriates find that it is finally time to return home.

President Raul Castro, younger brother of former dictator, President Fidel Castro, has always been more open to the thought of trade with the United States. The possibility of open trade with Cuba comes with a word of warning to the small nation. Excess funds that will be flooding into Cuba in the near future should go towards repairing their infrastructure, social and political constructs. The products of what we see as common privileges coming from a balanced political system will be new to the Cuban people. Cuba has always had the reputation of being a country "stuck in time." The majority of car owners there still drive automobiles from the 1950's and '60's, after all. Addressing a past of dictatorships that limits communication resources and monitors its own citizens' actions — something even our own nation does Cuban politicians need to bridge the gap of distrust that divides them from their countrymen, and not give in to the overwhelming possibilities that this beneficial openness will bring.