Friday, July 12, 2013

ASCE, ASCE; everywhere ASCE!

In less than three weeks, the 23rd annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, will kick off for a three-day marathon of panels, receptions, debates, and discussions from August 1-3 at the Miami Hilton Downtown.

You can register yourself, and pay via PayPal.

Given recent changes in Cuba's migration laws, the organizers of the conference (including myself) have been working hard for months to bring in a record number of participants from the island itself.

Full preliminary program.

The Cubans Are Coming!
I can confirm that we will have the honor of hosting:
  • Roberto Veiga and Lenier González (the co-editors of the essential socio-culural magazine of the Catholic Church, Espacio Laical);
  • The young professor and doctoral student from the University of Camagüey, José Luis Leyva Cruz;
  • The independent economist Karina Gálvez (Convivencia Magazine);
  • The independent laywer Lartiza Diversent (possibly together with her colleague Veizant Boloy);
  • Estado de Sats co-founder Antonio Rodiles (who will likely attend with the defense lawyer, Amelia Rodríguez Calá);
  • Environmental social entrepreneur Yociel Marrero of the Fundación Antonio Núñez Jiménez;
  • Veteran dissident attorney, René Gómez Manzano; and
  • The young scholar Armando Chaguaceda, who will be coming in from the University of Veracruz where he works.
It is also likely that we will once again benefit from the informed analysis of Oscar Espinosa Chepe, but via teleconference from Spain where he is receiving medical treatment.

We will also benefit from the presence and participation of a number of recently immigrated Cuban scholars, including Nora Gámez and Abel Sierra Madero, whom I met at the recent FIU CRI conference and at LASA.

Of course, I have left out many other attendees such as ASCE stalwarts - like Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Jorge Pérez-López - as well as this year's keynote speaker Harvard labor economist, Gorge Borjas, but my intention here is to emphasize our efforts to grow the organization and make it ever more inclusive and dynamic.

The organizing committee also invited a number of other economists, scholars, and intellectuals who work in Cuban educational and research institutions.  Unfortunately, none besides Leyva Cruz and Marrero is able to attend this year.  But we have let them know both publicly and privately that our doors remain open as we value their scholarship and would benefit from their participation.

$10 Student Registration and The Jorge Pérez-López Student Prize
In order to encourage greater graduate and undergraduate student participation, we have SLASHED the price of registration for all students (and recent graduates) by 95%.  Student can register here for just $10!

One of the cornerstones of ASCE’s outreach to young scholars is the Jorge Pérez-López Student Prize, which awards the author of the best undergraduate and graduate paper on Cuban economic issues with a cash award, travel and lodging costs to attend and present their work at ASCE’s annual conference, one year of ASCE membership, and publication in Cuba in Transition.

This year we received a record number of submissions from two dozen universities in Cuba, the United States, Canada, and Europe!

And the winners are... (Click the image to enlarge)


Edward Snowden: In his own words...

Edward Snowden, center. At left is WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison. The woman at right is unidentified at this time.
Photo is courtesy of Human Rights Watch, via NPR.

From Wikileaks via NPR, excerpts from Snowden's press conference Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport today, Friday, July 12, 2013.  Well worth reading:

"Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone's communications at any time. That is the power to change people's fates. ... 

"I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice. ...

"Countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. ...

"I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela's President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. ...

"I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably."

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Must watch: "Redes.Cu" - Excellent new mini-doc about Internet in Cuba!

Directed by David Vázquez Abella, this brand new documentary entitled REDES.CU profiles the daily struggles of three young Cuban professionals to get and stay connected to the web. H/T Penúltimos Días.

 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Encuentro fraternal entre Guillermo Fariñas y cubanos de NY-NJ

New Jersey, 19 de junio de 2013

A los cubanos y amigos de la democracia en general,

El próximo viernes estará con nosotros el destacado periodista independiente y opositor cubano Guillermo (Coco) Fariñas, premio Sakharov 2010. Fariñas salió de Cuba en el marco de la Ley Migratoria promulgada en Cuba en enero del presente año y su propósito principal es el de dar a conocer ante el mundo la falta de libertad y democracia que hay en nuestra patria y los esfuerzos que se están haciendo para cambiar dicha situación. Antes de finalizar el acto habrá un espacio de preguntas y respuestas.

LUGAR: Local de la Unión de Expresos Políticos Cubanos, Zona Noreste
Calle 43  # 508, Union City, New Jersey
FECHA: Viernes 21 de junio de 2013
HORA: 7:30 PM

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Décimas del Anauta

Décimas del Anauta

Posted at Observatorio Crítico by Lucha tu Yuca Taino

Por El Anauta

¡Ya tenemos Internet!,
nos dicen con alegría
Y se anima el alma mía
pensando entrar en la red.
Pero encuentro otra pared
levantada ante mí ahora.
¡Caramba! ¡Esto no mejora!
¡Tiene un precio inaccesible!
En moneda convertible:
cuatro cincuenta la hora.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

NYT Lede Blog: Cuban Blogger Elaine Díaz both Reveres Castro & Pushes for Reform

Thanx to Natalie Kitroeff for shining a light on this fascinating part of the emergent Cuban blogosphere and civil society.

Reading my quotes below (which are accurate) makes me reflect that this group of what I refer to as “silent dissidents,” are neither very silent nor do they consider themselves dissidents - if the term is understood to mean that they are against the government or against socialism.

However, they do constantly dissent from official policies - even if they often do so very carefully - "rattling the chain" of reform, while not "touching the monkey" of the system itself - as the Cuban saying goes.

Also, while I say that: “Their big problem is that they’re constantly biting their tongue.” Such caution might just be their particular solution, allowing them to be able to express criticism and keep their day jobs in a polarized political context.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Cuban bloggers in NYC (again)! Wed., June 5, 1:00 p.m. NYU

Co-sponsored by
the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy
and NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Friday, May 31, 2013

Coming home: CNN Reports on Yoani Sánchez's return to Cuba


Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez is surrounded by relatives after her arrival, at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, May 30, 2013. Sánchez is back home after a more than three-month globe-trotting tour that has turned her into the most internationally recognizable face in the island's small dissident community. Sánchez has been on the road since Feb. 17 and visited more than a dozen countries in Europe and the Americas. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)