If Cuba needs a [tech] revolution, who should be its revolutionaries?

When I received the invitation for the following Heritage Foundation / Google Ideas conference late last week, I responded with the following message to the organizers:

"Wow! This sounds like it will be very interesting. However, I still think the best (and easiest) thing we can do to achieve greater freedom in Cuba is end the travel ban and get rid of the embargo. This won't end the Cuban government's internal embargo but I think it will make it much harder to enforce and remove their favorite whipping boy and scapegoat from the chessboard (if I can mix my metaphors)."

Go here to get a link to the simulcast.

For what it's worth, I think it is beyond question that Cuba needs a [technological] revolution (in the words of the conference announcement), but for me the REAL question is should - and how should - outsiders help Cubans achieve that revolution?

I'm especially looking forward to watching Carlos Saladrigas go toe-to-toe with Mauricio Claver-Carone - not to mention el mismísimo Senator Marco Rubio, in answering that question. I sure wish Phil Peters of The Cuban Triangle were one of the other panelists...

Cordially Invite You to a Conference

Cuba Needs a [Technological] Revolution

How the Internet Can Thaw an Island Frozen in Time

Featuring

The Honorable Marco Rubio (R-FL)

Member, United States Senate

Introduction

Mike Gonzalez, Vice President, Communications, The Heritage Foundation

Jared Cohen, Director, Google Ideas

Panel 1 – Why Does Cuba’s Government Suppress the Internet?

Daniel Fisk, Vice President for Policy and Strategic Planning, International Republican Institute

Roger F. Noriega, Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Ray Walser, Ph.D., Senior Policy Analyst, Latin America, The Heritage Foundation

Mike Gonzalez, Vice President, Communications, The Heritage Foundation (Moderator)

Panel 2 – Promoting Uncensored Information to Cubans

Mauricio Claver-Carone, Director, U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC

Carlos Garcia Perez, Director, Office of Cuba Broadcasting

Carlos Saladrigas, Co-Chairman, Cuba Study Group

James Glassman, Executive Director, George W. Bush Institute (Moderator)

~ Lunch Following ~

Wednesday, March 21, 2011 – 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Auditorium

RSVP online at heritage.org/Events/  | or call (202) 675-1752

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