On September 28th, the Student Life Multicultural Center is bringing Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, a Cuban blogger, journalist and professor at the University of Havana to Ohio during Hispanic Heritage Month. She has just finished her one-year fellowship as a Nieman Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and will return to Cuba at the end of June 2015. As you know, on Dec. 17, 2014, President Obama announced a restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time since 1961. That means, after more than 50 years of rule under Fidel and Raul Castro, the U.S. stands at crossroads in Cuba.
During her fellowship at Harvard, she gave many interesting talks regarding this new development and brought a keen insight into current Cuban society and the capacity of digital communication to promote public discussion and consensus building in Cuba and possibly a path to normalization. Given the current interest of the public relating to normalization with Cuba, her talk will be very timely. Her talk title will be “CUBA IN AN ERA OF CHANGE” where she will talk about Cuban society and what a post-embargo Cuba might look like. What would an opening to Cuba mean to the U.S. economy, to travelers from the U.S., to the Cuban people, and to the U.S. standing in Latin America? What changes will Cuba undergo with normalization after more than 5 decades of non-diplomatic relations and an embargo from the U.S.?
