Cuban President Raul Castro has warned against pinning “excessive hopes” on U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. “[T]hough he may be an honest man, and I think he is, and a sincere man, and I think he is, one man cannot change the destiny of a nation, much less the United States,” Castro said, speaking on state-run television. Still, a Washington Post report from Havana published Wednesday shows many Cuban citizens are hopeful that Obama will end the embargo on Cuba and lift travel restrictions.

Policy experts in the United States continue to speculate about potential shifts to U.S.-Cuba policy under Obama. In a new podcast with CFR.org, Daniel Erikson, director of Caribbean programs at the Inter-American Dialogue, is doubtful that Obama will bring dramatic changes to U.S.-Cuba policy, citing “virtual paralysis” on Congress on the topic of Cuba policy.

Freedom House, a non-governmental organization devoted to promoting democracy around the world, issued a new release urging Obama to “reexamine the embargo and to immediately lift the restrictions on remittances and travel to and from the island.”