Cuba Research Seminar Tour
Culture and Development Cuba: Comparative Perspectives
June 6 to 16, 1999
Organizer:
The Latin American and Iberian Institute (LAII) at the University of New
Mexico and the Cuba Research and Analysis Group are the organizers of the
research seminar. Faculty Guide will be Prof. Nelson P. Valdés.. Prof.
Valdés teaches Sociology at UNM. The Latin American and Iberian Institute
seminar guide will be Fernando Maresma. The academic facilitator in Cuba
will be the Centro de Superación para la Cultura of the Ministry of Culture
which has extensive experience with academic seminars.
Cost:
Total Cost of Tour: $1,400 professionals. Student rate: $1,200. The tour
cost does not include US-to-Havana round trip airfare. The tour cost
includes: Hotel accommodations and transportation to all programmed
activities, all breakfasts and dinners; medical insurance; educational
materials, lectures, duplication and workshops. It also includes the Cuban
visa and all the paperwork related to the acquisition of the US Treasury
department travel license. It does not include airport taxes in Mexico ($15)
and Cuba ($25).
Who Might Be Interested:
The seminar should be of interest to university faculty and undergraduate
and graduate students from Fine Arts, Humanities, Journalism, History,
Social Sciences, Religion, Anthropology, Latin American Studies, Public
Administration and Sociology. Journalists, artists, musicians, cultural
critics and promoters will find the seminar of special interest as well. The
seminar will coincide with the First International Congress on Culture and
Development (June 7-11th) in Havana. Seminar participants will be able to
attend some of the sessions and workshops of the Congress.
Level of Research Seminar:
The seminar will be conducted as if it were a university level course,
although a university education is not required. Participants should be
acquainted or interested in Cuban culture, cultural institutions and/or
Latin American culture. Knowledge of Spanish is desirable although not
essential.
Number of Participants:
The group will have between 10 and 25 research participants.
Objectives of the Research Seminar:
1. to offer the participants a general overview of the many aspects of
Cuban culture - including language, beliefs, religion, dance, music,
theater, the arts, culture schools and cultural policy.
2. to discuss the impact that recent international trends (the demise of
the USSR and globalization) and economic and social changes in the island
had on Cuban culture and cultural institutions
3. to discuss the relationship between culture and economic development and
the impact they have on each other
4. to offer a comparison of some aspects of Cuban and American culture and
the mutual influences they have, including some particular aspects related
to U.S-Cuba relations.
5. to establish institutional, professional and personal contacts between
participants and their Cuban counterparts in order to further specific
individual research projects.
6. to explore the possibility of greater collaboration between institutions
in Cuba and in New Mexico on matters related to culture.
7. to help participants to come in contact with a variety of academics,
cultural workers, galleries, museums, social science institutes, policy
advisors, foreign diplomatic personnel who deal with some aspect of culture,
culture promoters and cultural publications.
8. To visit cultural institutions and see numerous performances - including
theater, fine arts, dance schools, music schools, universities and religious
institutions.
Individual Research Agendas:
Individual research needs will be addressed by the tour guides from UNM in
order to assist participants with research design prior to the tour and help
with contacts while in the island. We will be interested in collecting
research papers from participants after the trip in order to distribute the
findings through the Cuba-L listserver (a project of the Latin American and
Iberian Institute). Let us know as soon as possible of your own particular
research interests.
Specific Areas to Be Covered:
Below you will find a tentative list of possible places to go and people to
meet while it might not be possible to include each and every item in the
program, the group will have the experience of at least one activity from
each of the following categories.
*Plastic Arts:
- Visit the Foundation of Cultural Resources - Fondo de Bienes Culturales
- Visit Center for the Visual Arts - Centro Artes Visuales
- Visit Lithography Workshop - Taller Grabado de la Habana Vieja (the Cuban
Tamarind Institute)
- Visit the Huron Azul (the home of painter Carlos Enriquez)
*Architecture
- Visit Office in Charge of National Preservation (Dirección de
Patrimonio)
- Visit Office of the City Historian (Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad
de La Habana) - Project to restore Old Havana - Habaguanex)
- Visit Center to Train in Conservation, Restoration and Museum
Administration - CENCREM (Centro Nacional de Conservación, Restauración y
Museología)
- Meet with Group for the Integral Transformation of the City - GDIC
Grupo para el Desarrollo Integral de la Ciudad), preserves neighborhoods
*Community Organization and Culture
- Meet with the Martin Luther King Center and its community projects
- Meet with Norwegian Assistance Project - APN
- Visit Las Terrazas Community
- Meet with Laura Alonso's Community Ballet for Children
- Meet with Fundacion La Naturaleza y el Hombre
- Visit Children's Theater Group "La Colmenita"
*Scenic Arts
- Visit to the Cuban National Ballet and performance
- Visita to the National Theater and its projects
- Visit to the National Folklore Group and performance
- Visit to the New Latin American Film Foundation and meet with faculty and
students
- Visit to the Film School at San Antonio de los Baños and see a film
- Visit to Cuban Film Institute and meet at its café-bar with leading film
directors, producers and actors
*Teaching the Arts:
- Visit to the Instituto Superior del Arte
- University of Habana
*Cultural Promotion Centers
- Meet with researchers from the Centro de Investigación Juan Marinello
- Meet with personnel from the Centro Wifredo Lam, non profit organization
promoting art
- Meet with personnel from the Centro Alejo Carpentier, non profit
organization promoting literature
- Visit the Asociación Cultural Española - funded by Spain, non profit
organization promoting Spanish culture in Cuba
*Institutional
- Visit the Ministry of Culture and meet with some high officials
- Visit Cuban Book Institute to discuss book industry
- Visit the Union Nacional de Escritores y Artistas (UNEAC) to meet with
artists and writers
- Meet with US and Canadian Cultural Attaches
Cultural products and sales
- Visit to Institute of Music - presentation of the production and sale of
Cuban music
- Visit to ARTEX - presentation of the legal aspects in the promotion and
sale of Cuban cultural products
Research Seminar Format:
Daily formal lectures by invited guests from academia, the public and
private sectors will be given. Visits will be made to cultural institutions,
research centers, mixed enterprises, foreign embassies, museums,
neighborhoods and rural communities. Participation in some of the panels
and workshops at the International Congress on Culture and Development.
Duration of Tour:
June 6 - June 16th, 1999: Participants will stay 9 nights in Cuba.
Arrangements can be made for participants who need to stay for a longer
period of time in order to conclude their personal research project. We will
be willing to provide assistance in extending the Cuban visa. (You will need
to request an extension of the US license. See U.S. License Requirements)
Location of Seminar:
The ten-day day field research seminar will be conducted in Havana, Pinar
del Río, and Varadero. Visits will be made throughout the city of Havana,
the rural community of Las Terrazas in Pinar del Río province and Varadero.
Tentative Calendar of Activities:
? June 6: arrive in Havana.
? June 7: sight-see city of Havana, particularly Old Havana.
? June 8: academic activities in the city of Havana, programmed visits in
the afternoons.
? June 9: academic activities in the city of Havana, programmed visits in
the afternoons
? June 10: academic activities in the city of Havana, programmed visits in
the afternoons
? June 11: Visit to Las Terrazas
? June 12: academic activities in the city of Havana, programmed visits in
the afternoons
? June 13: academic activities in the city of Havana, programmed visits in
the afternoons
? June 14: travel to city of Matanzas and Varadero. Night at Varadero
? June 15: in the afternoon return to Havana.
? June 16: departure from Cuba
Airfare to Cuba from the United States:
Participants will be responsible for arranging their respective airfares to
and from Cancún, Mexico. You should arrive in Cancún on June 6, if possible
you should get there in the morning (and maybe see a little bit of the town)
or early afternoon (before 2:00pm). Otherwise you should get there the
previous day. We can help you make the hotel arrangements.
The seminar group will depart from Cancún to Havana on June 6th using a
Mexicana de Aviaci6n air plane. Mexicana begins check-in at 6:25pm from
the AeroCaribe counter. The carrier will collect $17 airport taxes at
check-in time. Departure time is 8:25pm. Arrival time at the José Martí
international airport is 10:15pm (Havana time). You should arrive in Cancún
at about 2:00pm. Fernando Maresma, from the Latin American and Iberian
Institute, will be waiting for you at the Cancún airport. Nelson Valdés
will meet you at the Havana airport.
The group will depart from Havana to Cancún on June 16th, 1999 using a
Cubana de Aviación plane. Cubana begins check-in at 1:20pm at the José Martí
International Airport (terminal 3). Carrier will collect a $25 airport tax.
Departure at 3:20pm. Arrival in Cancun will be 3:20pm (Mexico time).
Airport taxes are not covered by the tour.
The total airfare Cancun-Havana-Cancún will be $252. Participants will
arrange their own travel to and from Cancun. You can make your reservations
to Mexico and also to Cuba through Marazul Travel - which can be reached at
1-800-223-5334. Ask for Bob Guild. Mention to Bob that you will be traveling
with the group organized by the Latin American and Iberian Institute of the
University of New Mexico.
Cuban Visa:
The Latin American and Iberian Institute will make your visa arrangements
for Cuba. If you are thinking of going but you have not decided yet, submit
your papers to us so that we can request your visa as quickly as possible.
The cost of your Cuban visa will be covered by the tour. The visa will cost
$25, but will covered by the tour package. If you get a visa but you do not
go on the tour, you will have to pay the LAII for the visa. Please note
that almost anyone may freely visit Cuba using the easily obtainable Tourist
Card (Visa). This is a small two-page document provided by the travel agent,
the airline, or upon arrival in Cuba. In the case of the U.S. neither a
travel agent nor a U.S. airline can do so. In your case, however, you will
not be traveling to Cuba as a tourist but as a researcher. There is an
important difference - both from the standpoint of U.S. law. Americans
cannot go to Cuba as tourists, and from the Cuban side, tourists do not do
research. The cost of the tourist document and of the research visa is the
same $25 USD.
U.S. Treasury Department License:
In order to travel to Cuba all U.S. citizens and permanent residents have to
apply for a travel license to the U.S. Treasury Department. There are two
types of licenses issued: a general license and a specific license. Persons
who have relatives in Cuba are allowed to travel to Cuba, for humanitarian
reasons, once a year. If you were born in Cuba, or have Cuban parents or you
are married to some one who has Cuban ancestry, you are allowed to travel to
Cuba with a general license. However you can travel to Cuba only once during
the year. If you are a journalist, a researcher, a professional, or a
student and your line of work requires that you go to Cuba in order to
enhance your professional development or in order to write something for
distribution later on, then you have to request a specific license. We have
included some materials to help you with your request for a license. If you
have not decided to go to Cuba, but you might do so, then it will be a good
idea to submit to the LAII your request for a license - the sooner the
better. It takes the Treasury department up to 5 weeks to consider license
requests.
Application for the Latin American and Iberian Institute
Cuban Research Seminar Tour
[to be used by the LAII]
Name (as it appears on passport):
Social Security Number:
Passport Number:
Location and Date where Passport was issued:
Home Telephone:
Home Address:
Work Address:
Fax Number
E-Mail:
Profession:
Current Employment:
Highest Academic Degree, University and Year:
List Professional Interest Relevant to Seminar:
Level of Spanish Proficiency:
None____ Beginning_____ Intermediate____ Advanced_____
Have you visited Cuba before?
Reason for the previous visit:
Attach small passport photo with the application
Send application to: Cuba Research Seminar Tour
c/o Fernando Maresma
Latin American and Iberian Institute
University of New Mexico
801 Yale N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
87131-1016 USA
Please Note: Travel to Cuba Requires a U.S. Government License
In order to conduct the research seminar the Latin American and Iberian
Institute will request on behalf of each participant a research license.
[The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department issues
licenses on a case-by-case basis for noncommercial research purposes
specifically related to Cuba by persons who are working to qualify
themselves academically as professionals (Section 515.560b).
Professional research is also permitted if the professional person can
demonstrate that the research be generally of a noncommercial nature, that
it be academic in nature, and that it will be related to Cuba. In either the
case of a professional or a student it is assumed that the person will be
involved in a full work schedule. There should be a substantial likelihood
of dissemination of the product of such research. The Latin American and
Iberian Institute will consolidate all the applications of those
participating in the research seminar in order to submit them to the
Treasury Department. It usually takes the Treasury Department 25 working
days to issue a license. It is imperative to have the necessary information
at the LAIII as soon as possible. [See the License Request Guidelines below]
Cuba Research Seminar Tour: License Request Guidelines
Application Statement to be Submitted to the Treasury Department - Send this
statement to the LAIII and we will submit it on your behalf to the Treasury
Department. Please note that you should send this information IMMEDIATELY so
that we can initiate the request. Sending this information does not commit
you to going on the tour, but it will make things easier for you and us.
1. Your name (as it appears in your passport), address and telephone number.
2. Describe your research objectives while in Cuba. Please make sure that
you state how it relates to the particular tour you are taking with the
LAIII. Your statement should be brief but specific and concrete. The
following are just examples, of course you need to make your statement
specific to the type of tour you are intending to attend.
Example 1: I will research the impact that foreign investments is having on
the Cuban legal system. I understand that as foreign investments have gone
into the island pressure have increased to change the legislation on how
foreign capital operates in the island. I intend to write an essay looking
at the place of Cuban artists in their society since 1989.
Example 2: I want to see what changes have taken place in the teaching and
training of lawyers in Cuba. As Cuba's ties with the world capitalist
economy has advanced, it becomes imperative to teach lawyers in areas that
were not taught before. I want to see what is the difference between the
curriculum before 1991 and after that year. I also want to see what is
happening to those lawyers who graduated before 1991. Are they re-training
or are they simply unable to compete? I will be using the research for a
term paper I will be writing for my class on Comparative Law in Latin
America.
Example 3: Is the nature of criminal activity and criminal law changing in
Cuba due to the socio-economic transformation underway? Are there more
economic crimes or less as the Cuban population confronted a shrinking
economy? Does the behavior of Cubans on these issues fit the perspectives on
social control that Emile Durkheim posited? I will try to find the answers
to these questions while I am in Cuba. I will use the results of my
investigation to include a chapter in my thesis that addresses these
matters.
Example 4: I am preparing a course on Latin American legal systems. I had
some material on Cuba covering the situation there before 1991. But I know
that the Constitution was changed and that many laws have been issued that
mark a drastic departure from the typical Soviet legal framework. I want to
obtain the original materials and compare the changes that have taken place,
and see if the Cuban legal system is becoming more similar to the rest of
Latin America. My research, consequently, will be used to enhance my own
teaching.
Example 5: I work for a law firm that offers its services to corporations.
Often our clients want to know whether we have any knowledge of what is
happening in Cuba, since they read about foreign investors investing in
areas where our clients have an interest - for example, in mining. I want to
go to Cuba in order to get a clear idea of where exactly the Cuban
legislation is at present, and how it may have to change before it might be
acceptable to our clients. Of course, I am aware that at present it is
illegal for U.S. interests to invest there. But since my company has no
knowledge of the realities over there, we are unable to offer any advise to
our clients. Therefore, they end up going elsewhere. We have decided that it
is imperative that we participate in this seminar, there are practical
reasons involved. My experience will then be used to write some documents
outlining what the real situation looks like. The information will be
submitted, as well, to the New Mexico Bar Association newsletter.
If you have any questions on research resources you could use while in Cuba,
please do not hesitate to contact the LAII and leave a message for Professor
Valdés.
3. A copy of your Curriculum Vitae or resume. [Both professional persons and
students should submit this. In the case of a student you should state the
academic degree the applicant is working toward and how the research in Cuba
is related to fulfilling the degree requirement]. If you are a graduate
student, you might wish to elaborate on courses that you have taken or that
you intend to take, the MA or Ph.D. thesis you are considering writing on,
or the essay you are planning to write for a course or to submit for
publication in an academic journal.
4. Your basis for representing that there will be a public dissemination of
the product of your research.
You should be aware that the tour guide is the moderator of a listserver
(Cuba-L) and also the director of the Cuba Research and Analysis Group.
CRAG will seriously consider publishing the best essays in one of our
forthcoming electronic newsletter. If CRAG does not publish the materials,
Cuba-L will distribute the material you have written to all of its
subscribers (presently numbering 560+ persons). We urge you, of course, to
seek other avenues to make the material known. But you should mention some
way you intend to disseminate your findings.
5. State the dates that you intend to arrive and depart from Cuba. If you
intend to stay longer than the duration of the tour, state so here.
6. The telephone number of the person to contact in case we have any
questions concerning the application. We suggest that you include here the
name of a professional colleague that is acquainted with your work related
to Cuba. In the case of a students it might be useful to offer the name of a
faculty member.
In the statement that you prepare make sure you indicate that you are asking
the Latin American and Iberian Institute to request a license on your behalf
as part of a consolidated application. If you have any questions for the
Treasury Department you can call 1-202-622-2480. We are sending you a copy
of the document the Treasury Department has made available on Licensing and
Travel to Cuba.
Payment and Other Deadlines:
May 1, 1999: Send your visa and Treasury Department applications and all
other materials to us before this date. You should also send a xerox copy of
your passport along with a passport photograph. DO NOT SEND YOUR PASSPORT.
May 10th, 1999: Please send a deposit in the amount of 10% of your quoted
rate (professional or student). Please make your check or money order
payable to the Latin American and Iberian Institute.
The Final Payment of 90% of your quoted rate will be due on May 30th, 1999.
The total will be refunded if a license is not issued on time by the US
Dept. of Treasury. If you decide not to go but you have paid 10% of the
tour, 5% will be returned to you if we are informed before May 20th. No
deposits will be returned if we are informed after May 20th that you will
not go on the tour.
Make checks or money order payable to: Latin American and Iberian
Institute - Cuba Research Seminar Tour".
Mail your payment to: Cuba Legal Research Seminar
c/o Fernando Maresma
Latin American and Iberian Institute
University of New Mexico
801 Yale N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
87131-1016 USA
If you have any questions, please call: Fernando Maresma at 505-277-6191 or
505-277-2961 or send us email to: nvaldes@unm.edu. Our fax number is:
505-277-5989.