Experts, advocates to analyze impact of Obama’s visit to Cuba

Debate over President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba this week has been passionate and intense, both among the Cuban-American community in South Florida and throughout the nation. FIU’s Cuban Research Institute and Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center have convened a panel of experts and advocates on both sides of the issue to discuss the implications of the visit, what it means for the future of U.S.-Cuba relations and how it may affect the daily lives of ordinary Cuban citizens.

The panel will include:

• Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at FIU and professor of anthropology. He has published extensively on migration, ethnicity, race and nationalism in the Caribbean and U.S. Duany will moderate the discussion.
• Pedro Freyre, partner and chairman of international practice at Miami law firm Akerman and professor on Cuba at Columbia University Law School. Freyre leads a team that is guiding American companies into Cuba. He is adjunct faculty in the FIU College of Law.
• Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, secretary of the Cuban Democratic Directorate and visiting professor of political theory at FIU. The Cuban Democratic Directorate has been critical of U.S. policy towards Cuba.
• Jose Gabilondo, professor of law at FIU and nationally known commentator on Cuban issues.
• Dario Moreno, associate professor of politics and international relations at FIU and an expert on Miami and Cuban politics.

The event – scheduled for Friday, March 25, at 3 p.m. at Modesto A. Maidique Campus’ College of Business Complex, Room 232 – is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (305) 348-1991.