by Diego Benitez, Witness for Peace
on April 23, 2012
From the unique perspective of Diego Benitez from Witness for Peace (WFP) who has been on the ground in Havana, Cuba since the beginning of the year. WFP is a politically independent, nationwide grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. WFP’s mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean. WFP established an active delegations program in Cuba in 1999. Delegates worked to expose the human costs of the U.S. embargo. Over the next four years, thousands of activists traveled to Cuba with WFP before President Bush revoked WFP's license to travel to Cuba in 2005.
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by Carly Quaglio
on April 03, 2012
Dr. Reinerio Arce, President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, Cuba, participated in a briefing at Washington, DC’s National Council of Churches last week regarding the current reality of religious life and the role of churches in Cuba. Dr. Arce’s presentation focused on the current economic and social changes occurring on the island and how they have affected various faiths and churches. He also expressed deep support for small, but important measures taken by the Obama Administration in regards to religious travel--which he claims has greatly facilitated his seminary’s ability to carry out social projects. Dr. Arce began by stressing the importance of the relationships between U.S. and Cuban churches:
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by Carly Quaglio, LAWG Intern
on April 12, 2012
In case you hadn’t noticed, it seems that Cuba has been popping up in mainstream news headlines a lot in the past week. From Ozzie Guillen’s comments about Fidel Castro to this weekend’s Summit of the Americas, Cuba is a hot topic these days. The strange thing is—Cuba isn’t in the news for what its people or government have done—it’s in the news because U.S. citizens and politicians are putting in their two cents about the country (as is so often the case).
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by Carly Quaglio
on March 30, 2012
Dr. Reinerio Arce, President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, Cuba, participated in a briefing at Washington, DC’s National Council of Churches last week regarding the current reality of religious life and the role of churches in Cuba. Dr. Arce’s presentation focused on the current economic and social changes occurring on the island and how they have affected various faiths and churches. He also expressed deep support for small, but important measures taken by the Obama Administration in regards to religious travel--which he claims has greatly facilitated his seminary’s ability to carry out social projects. Dr. Arce began by stressing the importance of the relationships between U.S. and Cuban churches:
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by Carly Quaglio
on April 11, 2012
President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, was interviewed last week by Dr. Salim Lamrani, lecturer at Paris Sorbonne Paris IV University and expert on U.S.-Cuba relations, for publication in The Huffington Post. The interviewer and the interviewee produced an absorbing conversation on the state of U.S.-Cuba relations, particularly how the countries can cooperate to move forward—a step that Alarcón claims would benefit both sides of the Florida Straits. He should know. Prior to his position as President of the Parliament, Alarcón spent twelve years in the United States as Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. Throughout the conversation, the two men did not hesitate to discuss some of the touchier topics plaguing U.S.-Cuba relations: including migration, the current administration, normalized relations, and even Alan Gross. Read below for excerpts of the more compelling questions and responses:
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by Carly Quaglio, LAWG Intern
on March 12, 2012
Information on Cuba can often be biased, misinformed and confusing. Two recently published articles, one from the Wall Street Journal and the other from the Council on Foreign Relations, highlight this constant conflict in the U.S. media. These articles provide two starkly different opinions of Cuba. When presented with two contradictory portrayals of the same topic, how do you know what to believe?
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