Our Opinions
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.
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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
A Little Bit of Very Good News
January 24, 2011
Carlos Saladrigas, CSG Blog
Just before the end of last year, AP reported that the Cuban Supreme Court had commuted the death sentence of the last person remaining in Cuba’s death row, a Cuban-American named Humberto Eladio Real. A few weeks before, the Supreme Court also commuted the death sentences of two Salvadorian men who had been convicted in a bombing campaign against Cuba’s tourist sites.Good for the Cuban people
January 21, 2011
Carlos Saladrigas, Miami Herald
A few days ago, Cuba celebrated the 52nd anniversary of its revolution. For nearly the same amount of time, the United States has applied to Cuba a policy cocktail of sanctions, confrontation and isolation. In fact, sanctions applied to Cuba are more comprehensive than any other U.S. sanctions program in the world, even against America's most virulent enemies.Tomas Bilbao, The Havana Note
Speaking to Latin American leaders at an OAS summit in Port of Spain in April of 2009, President Obama declared, “the U.S. seeks a new beginning with Cuba.” "I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day."October 2010