La Vuelta Podcast: Cuba, Castro and Reform: An Interview with New York Times reporter Damien Cave

I first began reading Damien Cave's reporting when he covered Cory Booker's second and successful run for mayor of Newark, New Jersey.  The New York Times often ignored my hometown and Cave's coverage of the 2006 election helped to place the city's heated debates about poverty, crime, race, and authenticity in a national spotlight.  In the intervening years, Cave has gone on to cover everything from Miami to the war in Iraq.  He is now based in Mexico City from where he has written extensively about Cuba and, in recent years, the see-saw of reaction and reform that is Cuba under Raúl Castro.  Earlier this year, during a visit to Cuba that coincided with the CELAC Summit, Cave published a number of pieces that gave readers some insights on a regime that is struggling to hold on to power in the face of growing popular discontent and economic challenges.  Those articles served as the basis for my wide-ranging conversation earlier this month with Cave about what he has called, the "Cuban Evolution."    

La Vuelta Podcast: "When Mexicans Played Ball," An Interview with Prof. Ignacio García

One of the many benefits of hosting La Vuelta is that I get a chance to interview historians whose work I admire greatly.  Anyone familiar with 20th Century Mexican-American historiography knows Ignacio García's groundbreaking work in books such as "White but not Equal" and "Viva Kennedy: Mexican-Americans in Search of Camelot."  García's most recent book, however, is a break with these political histories.  "When Mexicans Played Ball: Basketball, Race and Identity in San Antonio, 1928-1945," (University of Texas Press, 2014) is a history of the young Mexican-American boys who played basketball at Sidney Lanier High School in San Antonio and the ways in which the teams coached by the legendary Nemo Herrera, challenged deeply-held stereotypes about Mexican-Americans in Texas.  For García, a graduate of Lanier High School, writing about the Lanier basketball squad was a labor of love; a love that comes across in both his writing and in the interview I conducted with him a couple of weeks ago.

To download or stream my interview with Ignacio García, visit:

https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog/la-vuelta-episode-5-april-17-2014
   

La Vuelta Podcast: CELAC and the Future of the OAS, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the life and legacy of photographer Frank Espada.

February came and went and we weren't able to put together a new episode of La Vuelta.

How can we make this up to our listeners? By launching a March episode that may be our best yet.

We start by speaking with Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue about the recent CELAC Summit in Havana and about the challenges facing the Organization of American States.  Anyone who follows Latin American policy debates knows Shifter is one of the nation's leading experts on the region and his insights on the current political landscape in Latin America are worth a listen.

Next, we turn to the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.  Soccer (football, futebol, futbol--take your pick) fans across the globe are setting their sights on Brazil for what promises to be a fierce competition featuring some of the world's greatest soccer players.  But there is more to the games than what will happen on the pitch.  Debates and protests have been raging in Brazil about the costs of the games while many wonder whether the South American powerhouse will actually be ready to welcome soccer fans this summer.  We spoke with Marcos Peres, a U.S.-based blogger and journalist for Brazilian communications giant UOL, about how Brazil is gearing up for the games and what are some of the challenges it faces.  We also got him to tell us the teams to watch this year. (Spoiler: he didn't think much of the USMNT's chances.)

Finally, we interviewed New York Times columnist David Gonzalez about the life and legacy of celebrated photographer Frank Espada.  If, like us, you're a fan of his work as contributor to and co-editor of the Times' Lens Blog, you already know about Espada from Gonzalez's essays here and here. Beyond his personal recollections of Espada, however, Gonzalez also explained the Puerto Rican artist's work within the broad context of the history of social documentary photography in the United States.

This month's episode is exactly the sort of show we envisioned when we launched La Vuelta last year: conversations that are varied, timely and in-depth.  We hope you agree.

La Vuelta's success depends on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.

• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we post updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.

• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806

• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

Best,

John

Huber Matos, 1918-2014

The legendary Cuban leader Huber Matos died today in Miami at the age of 95.  In his long life he want from farmer and teacher, to military commander, to exile leader.  In October, 1959, he resigned his rank in the Cuban Revolutionary Army.  His resignation letter to Fidel Castro (a copy of which follows) remains one of the key documents in the history of the Cuban Revolution and an eloquent condemnation of its move toward one-party rule.   

Camagüey, octubre 19 de 1959
Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz
Primer ministro
La Habana

Compañero Fidel:

En el día de hoy he enviado al jefe del Estado Mayor, por conducto reglamentario, un radiograma interesando mi licenciamiento del Ejército Rebelde. Por estar seguro que este asunto será elevado a ti para su solución y por estimar que es mi deber informarte de las razones que he tenido para solicitar mi baja del ejército, paso a exponerte las siguientes conclusiones:

Primera: no deseo convertirme en obstáculo de la Revolución y creo que teniendo que escoger entre adaptarme o arrinconarme para no hacer daño, lo honrado y lo revolucionario es irse.

Segunda: por un elemental pudor debo renunciar a toda responsabilidad dentro de las filas de la Revolución, después de conocer algunos comentarios tuyos de la conversación que tuviste con los compañeros Agramonte y Fernández Vilá. Coordinadores Provinciales de Camagüey y La Habana, respectivamente: si bien en esta conversación no mencionaste mi nombre, me tuviste presente. Creo igualmente que después de la sustitución de Duque y otros cambios más, todo el que haya tenido la franqueza de hablar contigo del problema comunista debe irse antes de que lo quiten.

Tercera: sólo concibo el triunfo de la Revolución contando con un pueblo unido, dispuesto a soportar los mayores sacrificios... porque vienen mil dificultades económicas y políticas... y ese pueblo unido y combativo no se logra ni se sostiene si no es a base de un programa que satisfaga parejamente sus intereses y sentimientos, y de una dirigencia que capte la problemática cubana en su justa dimensión y no como cuestión de tendencia ni lucha de grupos.

Si se quiere que la Revolución triunfe, dígase adónde vamos y cómo vamos, óiganse menos los chismes y las intrigas, y no se tache de reaccionario ni de conjurado al que con criterio honrado plantee estas cosas.

Por otro lado, recurrir a la insinuación para dejar en entredicho a figuras limpias y desinteresadas que no aparecieron en escena el primero de enero, sino que estuvieron presentes en la hora del sacrificio y están responsabilizados en esta obra por puro idealismo, es además de una deslealtad, una injusticia, y es bueno recordar que los grandes hombres comienzan a declinar cuando dejan de ser justos.

Quiero aclararte que nada de esto lleva el propósito de herirte, ni de herir a otras personas: digo lo que siento y lo que pienso con el derecho que me asiste en mi condición de cubano sacrificado por una Cuba mejor. Porque aunque tú silencies mi nombre cuando hablas de los que han luchado y luchan junto a ti, lo cierto es que he hecho por Cuba todo lo que he podido ahora y siempre.

Yo no organicé la expedición de Cieneguilla, que fue tan útil en la resistencia de la ofensiva de primavera para que tú me lo agradecieras, sino por defender los derechos de mi pueblo, y estoy muy contento de haber cumplido la misión que me encomendaste al frente de una de las columnas del Ejército Rebelde que más combates libró. Como estoy muy contento de haber organizado una provincia tal como me mandaste.

Creo que he trabajado bastante y esto me satisface porque independientemente del respeto conquistado en los que me han visto de cerca, los hombres que saben dedicar su esfuerzo en la consecución del bien colectivo, disfrutan de la fatiga que proporciona el estar consagrado al servicio del interés común. Y esta obra que he enumerado no es mía en particular, sino producto del esfuerzo de unos cuantos que, como yo, han sabido cumplir con su deber.

Pues bien, si después de todo esto se me tiene por un ambicioso o se insinúa que estoy conspirando, hay razones para irse, si no para lamentarse de no haber sido uno de los tantos compañeros que cayeron en el esfuerzo.

También quiero que entiendas que esta determinación, por meditada, es irrevocable, por lo que te pido no como el comandante Huber Matos, sino sencillamente como uno cualquiera de tus compañeros de la Sierra -¿te acuerdas? De los que salían dispuestos a morir cumpliendo tus órdenes--, que accedas a mi solicitud cuanto antes, permitiéndome regresar a mi casa en condición de civil sin que mis hijos tengan que enterarse después, en la calle, que su padre es un desertor o un traidor.

Deseándote todo género de éxitos para ti en tus proyectos y afanes revolucionarios, y para la patria -agonía y deber de todos- queda como siempre tu compañero,

Huber Matos

La Vuelta Podcast: Energy Reform in Mexico, Latinos and HIV/AIDS in the United States

This month’s episode of La Vuelta Podcast begins with an examination of recent energy policy reforms in Mexico.  Last summer, President Enrique Peña Nieto introduced a series of proposals to end the monopoly of the state-owned PEMEX (Petróleos de Mexico) energy giant by allowing foreign investment in the country’s energy sector.  The move set off a series of high-profile protests by opponents of the Peña Nieto administration, accusing him of compromising the sovereignty of the Mexican state by attacking an institution born, in a celebrated nationalization of foreign oil interests, during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas in the 1930s. Noel Maurer, an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, who has written extensively on the Mexican oil industry, spoke with us about the history of oil and politics in Mexico and the impact that President Peña Nieto’s reforms might have on the Mexican energy sector.

Next, we turned to the complex issue of Latinos and HIV/AIDS infection in the United States.  Recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reveal that Latinos are disproportionately infected with HIV.  In a recent article, Erika L. Sánchez, a Chicago-based writer, examined some of the ways in which Latino cultural taboos regarding sex and homosexuality might be influencing the persistence of the disease in the Latino communities of the U.S.  Sánchez joined us to discuss some of the stories she discovered of Latinos infected with HIV/AIDS and the ways in which some Latino communities are responding to this crisis.

La Vuelta's success depends on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.

• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we will be posting updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.

• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806

• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

Best,

John

Hostos at the Ateneo de Madrid

Eugenio María de Hostos, Woodcut, Lorenzo Homar, 1961
Source: Sala Eugenio María de Hostos. Una invitación para visitar la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 2009

Yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of Eugenio María de Hostos, one of the leading lights of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean during the 19^th Century. (Tomorrow, the Puerto Rican government's offices will be closed in honor of Hostos’ birthday.)  A Puerto Rican by birth, Hostos was an American, in the broadest sense of that word, by choice.  He saw in the countries of the Antilles-especially Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic-islands sharing both cultural bonds and political challenges.  His life was dedicated to the independence of the islands from any foreign power, whether in Madrid or in Washington. 

One of Hostos’ clearest arguments in favor of Cuba and Puerto Rico’s independence from Spain was delivered in 1868 in the heart of Spanish intellectual life, El Ateneo de Madrid.  Only a few months earlier, Puerto Rico’s first significant attempt to achieve independence died in the coffee-producing hills near Lares.  Meanwhile, in Cuba, insurgents had started a long and costly war that would do little to resolve the island’s colonial status.  Hostos’ speech at the Ateneo is a pointed and elegant attack against Spanish colonialism and its impact on the peoples of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.  Spain itself was convulsed by revolution in 1868, and it was Hostos who exposed the hypocrisy of Spaniards who preached liberalism at home but imposed colonialism abroad.

Thanks to the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College/CUNY, Hostos’ speech at the Ateneo has been translated into English.  This is part of the college’s great work in preserving his legacy and making some of his work available to English-speakers.  The site is a great place to start to learn about this important figure in the history of the Americas and his life's work in favor of freedom.

Marina Ginestá, Spanish Civil War icon, dies.

The subject of one of the most iconic photographs of the Spanish Civil War has died.  Marina Ginestá, who was photographed by the German Hans Guttman Guster (later Juan Guzmán) in 1936, died in Paris today at the age of 94.  The photograph of a young and defiant Ginestá, taken as she stood guard atop the Hotel Colón in Barcelona at the onset of the Spanish Civil War, was one of many photographs taken by Guttman during his time in Spain as a member of the International Brigades.  Ginestá fled from Spain after the war and settled in the Dominican Republic.  By the mid-1940s, she had run afoul of the Trujillo regime and fled back to Europe.  Guttman too fled Spain at the collapse of the Spanish Republic.  Arriving in Mexico, he became one of the nation’s most important photographers producing a series of images of Mexican artists at work including, most notably, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

Marina Ginestá,  Hans Guttman Giuster (later Juan Guzmán), Barcelona, 1936.  Image courtesy of Revista Ojos Rojos.

Frida Kahlo, Juan Guzmán, Mexico City, 1951.