Five days before arriving in Havana, US President Barack Obama lifted some of the travel, trade and financial restrictions on Cuba.

Now, US tourists can travel independently to the island country; Cubans can carry out international financial transactions with the US dollar and American boats can harbor in Cuban ports, among other measures.

All these steps are aimed to allow the United States to become "directly involved" with the Cuban people, Obama told CNN.

However, according to Cuban political analyst Iroel Sanchez, these are all measures the White House has taken to try to dominate the Caribbean country.

He said that this might mark a return of Washington's "carrot-and-stick" approach, which was started by former US President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century.

"I would say that the US policy is to drown Cuba and to get the middle class active, which is in their own interests, instead of trying to resolve the problems faced by the Cuban people," Sanchez told Xinhua.

"However, Cubans hope that the US relaxation of embargo will facilitate their daily lives. They want to see the restrictions, which have destroyed the Cuban economy, being lifted," explained the analyst.

(China Daily 03/21/2016 page12)