Our Opinions
April 2012
Cuba and its Diaspora
April 6, 2012
Carlos Saladrigas, Centro Cultural Padre Felix Varela
Very rarely do people choose to emigrate for simple personal reasons. Emigration happens when individuals feel that they are no longer able to remain in their country due to a hostile and exclusive political environment, or when living under a non-productive economy that fails to generate necessary job opportunities needed to support their families. With the exception of the poorest countries with a low education level, governments and their policies are the main causes of emigration.
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March 2012
Tomas Bilbao, Americas Quarterly Blog
Like his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba at a crucial time in the nation’s history. Pope John Paul II visited in 1998, a time when Communist Europe had crumbled and expectations of change were high; Pope Benedict XVI landed during a time of unprecedented internal change.October 2011
Raices de Esperanza Blog, Tomas Bilbao
Few times, if any, in Cuba’s modern history has there been such an opportunity to help fuel the seeds of change on the island. The process of economic reforms put in place by Raul Castro, though limited and often contradictory, provide a window of opportunity help thousands of Cuban entrepreneurs succeed in starting and operating their own, independent businesses.August 2011
Tomas Bilbao, The Havana Note
The extensive coverage the media has given to an very small number of vocal Cuban-Americans who opposed the celebration of a concert held in Miami by Cuban artist Pablo Milanés stands in stark contrast to the sentiment of the majority of the exile community, which has gone largely unreported. For years, we have seen how the media has sensationalized protests by these (most likely the same) small number of exiles who, blinded by their hatred for the Cuban regime, have worked tirelessly to maintain the status quo in both Washington and Havana.June 2011
How Undoing Obama’s Cuba Policy Would Harm Entrepreneurs and Civil Society Empowerment
June 29, 2011
Tomas Bilbao, CFI Acción Blog
Guest blogger Tomas Bilbao is Executive Director of the Cuba Study Group with which the Center for Financial Inclusion has collaborated. Bilbao shares his strongly held views on how efforts to reverse positive policy changes announced by the Obama Administration in April of 2009 would hurt the budding entrepreneurial class in Cuba and would represent an obstacle to needed change.February 2011
My Wish for Cuban Youth in 2011: A Future at Home
February 24, 2011
Tomas Bilbao, Roots of Hope Blog
In a recent documentary titled “Grandchildren of the Revolution,” which was filmed recently in Cuba, many young Cubans express their lack of faith in a future within the island. Of all the challenges Cuba faces, and there are certainly many of them, the loss of its most valuable resource, its youth, may be the most damaging.Cuban Cultural Exchange
February 11, 2011
Enrique Sosa, The New York Times
I was delighted to learn about the coming appearances in New York-based venues of many of Cuba’s most accomplished artists. This valuable contact between those in Cuba and Americans can only foster good will between these somewhat strained societies.Tomas Bilbao, Sarasota Herald Tribune
News last week that French telecom Alcatel-Lucent SA has begun laying a 1,600-kilometer underwater fiber optic cable between Venezuela and Cuba is the latest evidence of how U.S. sanctions toward Cuba undermine U.S. national interests and push the communist island into the open arms of our adversaries and continue Cuban citizen’s dependence on the regime.January 2011