Cuba Archives - Public Seminar

History

Remembering—and Forgetting—the Cuban Revolution

The history of Cubans’ mobilizations of, reckonings with, and debates over their past has not yet been fully told

August 24, 2021 • by Michael J. Bustamante

_____ There are two widely familiar versions of the Cuban story. According to the first, on January 1, 1959, a ragtag band of rebels swept down from the Sierra Maestra, delivering Cuba from the clutches of short-term dictatorship and longer neocolonial submission to the United States. In this view, the “triumph” of ...

Remembering—and Forgetting—the Cuban Revolution

Podcast

The Protests in Cuba

Past Present Podcast, Episode 288

July 20, 2021 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: The streets of Cuba are filled with protestors enraged by the poor handling of the pandemic and the excesses of the police state. Natalia mentioned Cuba scholar Rebecca Bodenheimer’s Twitter account and this POLITICO piece. Niki drew on this NPR ...

Feature

Cuba Mourns Fidel, Maybe

Reactions on the ground in the aftermath of the leader’s death

December 27, 2016 • by Hira Nabi

For nine days there was no alcohol sold on the island. Cuba is not a dry country, but it became one in mourning Fidel. “There was absolutely no alcohol being sold, not even to tourists,” Jenni, a visiting student from a US college on a study abroad program told me. ...

Feature

What Died in Cuba with Fidel Castro’s Death?

November 27, 2016 • by Haroldo Dilla Alfonso

From Santiago, Chile. Fidel Castro has died. Alongside him, the last poster of the great 20th century revolutions has come down from the wall of history. I am not saying that I share the conservatives’ oneiric eagerness concerning the end of revolutions. They will keep on coming as long as -- and ...