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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?

Today, March 1st, marks the 30th anniversary of Cuba’s placement on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.  In 1982 Cuba was added to this list because, according to the Congressional Research Services 2005 report, “At the time, numerous U.S. government reports and statements under the Reagan Administration alleged Cuba’s ties to international terrorism and its support for terrorist groups in Latin America.” The report goes on to recall Cuba’s involvement in supporting revolutionary movements in Africa and other Latin American countries. In “1992 Fidel Castro stressed that his country’s support for insurgents abroad was a thing of the past,” mainly due to the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent loss of resources following the fall. 

*Spoiler alert! Details of Demián Bichir’s Oscar-nominated performance in A Better Life exposed here!

Bummed all the hype surrounding the Oscars is over? Hopefully the annual awards show opened your eyes to some fantastic films. One that I would personally urge you to see is A Better Life.

Mexican actor Demián Bichir was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in this timely film about immigration. Bichir plays Carlos Galindo, an honest, hardworking gardener and undocumented Mexican immigrant living in East Los Angeles with his teenage son. The struggles Carlos faces as a single father are exacerbated by his undocumented status and the gangs that are constantly trying to recruit his son, Luis.

Just a a few steps south of the U.S.-Mexico border, President Calderón unveiled a towering billboard last week wielding a message written in plain English: “No More Weapons!” Weighing over 3 tons, the billboard itself is made of seized firearms that have been chopped, melted and welded together.  Visible from the United States, the call is clear: halt the southbound flow of guns that fuel violence in Mexico. 

Back in October I was lucky enough to see Sonia Pierre, a longtime activist for Dominicans of Haitian descent, speak at what would be one of her last public events before her death the following month. Like the people she spent her life defending, Sonia was born on a batey to Haitian parents who migrated to the Dominican Republic in search of better jobs. Bateys are Dominican sugar plantations where Haitian migrant workers and their offspring face appalling working conditions and live in poverty, marginalized from the rest of Dominican society.

I was not prepared when I opened Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives. One moment I was sitting at my desk, and the next I was with Roberto, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. I followed him as he moved from one underpaying, exhausting job to the next; working even harder once he had his own family. I was by his side when he received amnesty, but his family didn’t. They voluntarily left the country while he stayed behind to continue working to support them. Here Roberto recounts his own experiences, providing me a glimpse into his struggles and feelings of profound loneliness and loss.

Taking advantage of President Obama’s liberalized regulations that have re-established people-to-people licensed travel to Cuba, members of LAWG staff partnered with Witness for Peace and led a delegation of 25 people to study and learn about the art and culture of Cuba. Our delegation met with artists such as Sandra Ramos, Kadir and Kelvin Lopez, saw performances by students in one of Havana’s many schools for the arts, visited Ernest Hemingway’s home, witnessed the magic of the Cuba National Ballet, participated in folkloric dance led by a community group “Okantomi,” dialogued with members of the Cuban National Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Tourism, Union of Artists and Writers, and the United States Interests Section in Havana.