Symposium Examines Year of US-Cuba Relations
At a recent symposium held at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, scholars and diplomats examined the first year of closer relations between the U. S. and Cuba.
The U. S.-Cuban Relations Symposium was held on Nov. 9. It consisted of two events; a talk entitled “U.S.-Cuban Relations: A View from Havana,” given by Carlos Alzugaray Treto, former Cuban ambassador to the European Union, and a roundtable entitled “The Past, Present, and Future of U.S.-Cuban Relations” with scholars Jorge I. Domínguez, Louis A. Pérez Jr., and Lars Schoultz. The symposium was sponsored by the Latin American Studies Program, an affiliated regional studies center of the Pardee School, along with the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Enhancement Fund and the Pardee School.
“I organized the event because I thought it seemed like perfect timing,” said Renata Keller, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University and noted Cuban scholar. “It’s been almost a year since Obama and Castro announced resuming diplomatic relations, and many students and citizens are curious about how the process has progressed and where we are going in the future.”
Keller said that she hoped the diversity of views presented at the symposium was instructive for attendees.
“Ambassador Alzugaray spoke from the perspective of a Cuban diplomat who was very optimistic about the future, while our academic panel in the afternoon highlighted potential dangers to closer ties, based on the U. S.’ unremitting history of paternalism and interference in Cuban politics. I think people who attended were struck by the contrast,” Keller said. “At Boston University, we are doing our best to leverage our academic strengths to make ourselves a center for Cuban studies. We have formed a Cuba working group, and will be bringing study abroad students to Cuba for the second time in the spring.”
Attending the symposium were Pardee School professors Susan Eckstein and Paul Webster Hare. Hare is a former British Ambassador to Cuba.
“However much the two sides [the U. S. and Cuba] communicate, they don’t always see the future in the same terms, and it’s important to learn both sides’ perspectives on the diplomatic process,” Hare said.
“I found the speakers extremely interesting. I think all attendees came away from the symposium with a more well-rounded view,” said Eckstein.
Keller has special expertise in Mexican, Cuban, Chilean, and Argentine history. She is the author of Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution, from Cambridge University Press. Learn more about her here.