Since its founding in December 1994, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies has assigned a high priority to overcoming the many obstacles that impede scholarly collaboration and exchange between individuals and institutions in Cuba and the United States. Guiding these efforts has been the conviction that restoring and enhancing cooperation between the U.S. and Cuban academic communities can play a significant role in promoting peaceful changes within and between our two countries. In the past ten years, the Center has played host to over 60 Cuban visiting scholars for extended periods of work and collaboration in fields as diverse as archival preservation and indexing, economics, history, tropical medicine, political science, public administration and public health.

Through grant support, each semester, the Center welcomes a small number of professors, professionals and researchers from Cuba who have applied to the Center through a competitive process. While in residence at Harvard and working on their own research projects, typically for four to twelve weeks, these Cuban visitors have opportunities to interact with Harvard faculty and students, use the University library resources, as well as participate in Center conferences and seminars. Visiting researchers from Cuba receive office space at the Center. Researchers are expected to present a lecture on the substance of their research and to be available for consultation with faculty, students and others at Harvard who are interested in their work. 

Cuban Short Term Visiting Scholars Expected to be in Residence in 2009-10

Natalia María Bolívar Aróstegui is an anthropologist, museologist and specialist in Afro-Cuban religions. Trained at the Arts Students League in New York and the Louvre Museum in Paris, she is the former director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and also participated in the creation and management of the Museo Napoleónico and the Museo Numismático de Cuba. She is the author and co-author of 16 books on Afro-Cuban religions including Los Orishas en Cuba (1995, 3^rd edition, Panapo) and Cuba: Imágenes y relatos de un mundo mágico (1997, Ediciones Unión). She serves on the board of the journal Temas and is vice-president of the Fundación de Cultura Afrohispanoamericana “La Ceiba” in Seville, Spain. Ms. Bolívar Aróstegui is also a painter and has served as an adviser for several well-known Cuban films including Fresa y Chocolate, Zafiro: Locura azul and Scuba Drive. During a two-week residency at Harvard, Natalia will present several lectures on Afro-Cuban religions.

Soraya M. Castro Mariño is a researcher and professor at the University of Havana´s Center for the Study of the Hemisphere and the United States (Centro de Estudios Hemisfericos  y sobre Estados Unidos). She received her training from the University of Havana and the Institute of Foreign Relations in Moscow, Russia. Her research interests include U.S.-Cuban relations, U.S. foreign policy and U.S. foreign policymaking process. She is the author of many scholarly articles and is co-author of EEUU: Dinámica Interna y Política Exterior (Ed. Ciencias Sociales, 2003) and Del TLC al Mercosur: Integración y Diversidades en América Latina (Ed. Siglo XXI, 2002). She has taught and conducted research at various academic institutions throughout the U.S. including Harvard University and was invited as a panelist to the Roundtable of Western Hemisphere Women Leaders organized by the Inter-American Dialogue-International and the Center for Research on Women in 1994. She has held various short-term Visiting Scholar appointments at numerous institutions including the 2005 Top Level Seminar on Peace and Security both organized by the Department of Peace and Conflict Resolution, Uppsala University in Sweden, the Smithsonian Institution at The National Museum of American History and twice at the National Security Archives, Washington D.C. (1997 and 2003). In Spring 2007, Soraya was the lead faculty instructor for the Harvard College Program in Cuba course taught to Harvard undergraduate students on “U.S.-Cuban Relations: An overview of historical, economical and political perspectives.” While at Harvard, she will be researching contemporary U.S. foreign policy and its impact on Cuba.

Anicia García Álvarez is a professor in the Economics Department and the Director of the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy (Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana) at the University of Havana. Holding a PhD in international economics from the University of Havana’s Economics Department, her research focuses on the competitiveness of Cuban industry and agriculture, agricultural markets, economic policies and their impact on agricultural exports. She received her Master’s degree in international economics from the University of Uruguay in 2001.  Prior to joining the CEEC, she was an economist at the National Institute for Economic Research, a think tank belonging to the Ministry of Economics and Planning.  Her recent publications include “Las agroexportaciones cubanas: demanda y competitividad”, and “Cadenas, redes y clusters productivos: aspectos teóricos” in Cuba, crecer desde el conocimiento (Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2005); “Consumption, Markets, and Cuba’s Monetary Duality” with Viviana Togores González in The Cuban Economy at the Start of the Twenty-First Century, edited by Jorge I. Domínguez, Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva and Lorena Barberia (Harvard University Press, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 2004); and “Productividad y factores de producción en la agricultura cubana” in Cuba, reflexiones sobre su economía (Editorial Félix Varela, 2002). At Harvard, she will spend time as a visiting researcher to advance a study on Cuba-U.S. bilateral trade that will seek to examine agriculture and related sectors.

Ida González Nuñez is a pediatrician at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), where she has served as an attending physician and a member of the teaching faculty since 1990.   At the IPK’s hospital, she is responsible for the care of all children born to HIV positive mothers, as well as to children who are HIV positive. Among her numerous publications, she is co-author with Arachu Castro and Yasmin Khawja  of “Sexuality, reproduction, and HIV in women: the impact of antiretroviral therapy in elective pregnancies in Cuba,“ AIDS 2007,21 Suppl:S49-S54; “Características  Inmunológicas de los niños Infectados por vía Vertical con el VIH. Estudio de Casos y Controles,”  Revista de Investigación Clínica, Vol. 57, 4, Julio-Agosto, 2005: 498-504 with Lizette Gil, Randelys Molina, Aileen González, María E. Toledo, Manuel Díaz Jidy and Approaches to the Management of HIV/AIDS in Cuba: Case Study (World Health Organization, 2004) with Jorge Pérez, Daniel Pérez, Ida González, Manuel Diaz Jidy, Mylai Orta, José Joanes, Manuel Santín, Maria Isela Lantero, Rigoberto Torres, Ailen González, and Alejandro Álvarez. During a four-week residency, Ida will complete a study she is preparing on mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Cuba.

Gerardo Martínez Machín is the Head of the Department of Bacteriology and Mycology at the  Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) and a professor at the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences in Havana, Cuba in the Department of Microbiology. He received his training as a medical doctor at the University of Havana and specialized training in microbiology from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences in Havana, Cuba. At the IPK, he has conducted research on several fungal diseases with a focus on their detection and treatment and directed the department since 1994. The Academy of Sciences in Cuba has recognized him for his contributions on the detection of HIV antibodies in the Cuban population, the characterization and treatment of AIDS Cuban patients, the development of a Tropical Medicine Institute in Arauca, Colombia and research on Cryptococcus in Cuba. He has also participated in scientific exchange meetings and conducted short-term residences in the United States, Europe and Latin America at institutions including University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the Institute Pasteur Paris. For over two decades, Dr. Martínez Machín has conducted research on histoplasmosis, a fungal disease that is endemic in Cuba and much of the Caribbean along with parts of the American Midwest.  Dr. Martínez Machín will be in residence at Harvard for three months to develop collaborative research on molecular genetic and epidemiologic approaches to studying Histoplasma capsulatum.

Armando Nova González is a professor in the Economics Department and researcher at the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy (Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana) at the University of Havana.  A specialist in Cuban agricultural economics with a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Havana, Professor Novoa has held posts in the Citrus Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Planning Board and the National Economy Research Institute. He is President of the Scientific Counsel of the CEEC, vice-president of the National Tribunal for Applied Economics, a board charged with doctoral thesis examinations, and a member of the Advisory Group to the Ministry of Sugar.  A member of the editorial boards for Revista Economía y Desarrollo and Revista de Agricultura Orgánica, he is author of several articles and chapters and three books, Aspectos Económicos de los Cítricos en Cuba (Editorial de Científico Técnico del Ministerio de Cultura, 1984) La Organización Agroindustrial en Cuba (Editorial de Científico Técnico del Ministerio de Cultura, 1990) and Teoría y Practica de la Economía Agropecuaria (Tomo I y II, Ediciones Universitarias, 1989). At Harvard, he will spend time as a visiting research to advance a study on Cuba-U.S. bilateral trade that will seek to examine agriculture and related sectors.

Marta Nuñez Sarmiento is a professor in the Department of Sociology and a researcher at the Center for Study of International Migrations (CEMI) at the University of Havana. Her research has concentrated on transition projects for Cuba proposed by Cuban-American and U.S. scholars; women and employment in Cuba;  gender studies in Cuba; images of women in Cuban mass media; images of Cuba in Cuban and foreign mass media. At the University of Havana, she teaches courses related to methodology and methods of sociological research, gender studies and contemporary Cuba. She holds a Master's in Sociology from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) in Santiago, Chile and a PhD in economics from the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia and has been a visiting professor at universities in the Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Spain and Argentina.  She has served as a consultant for several agencies of the UN (1988-2003), for the Association of Caribbean States (1999) and for several NGOs. She served as an expert for the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CAME), (Moscow, 1978-1983) and an adviser for the Embassy of Cuba in Russia (1993-1997). Marta will be in residence at Harvard for four weeks to advance research on the May 2004 Report to the President of the U.S. by the Commission for Aid to a Free Cuba and its impact on Cuban migration to the U.S.

Lázaro Peña Castellanos is a professor in the Economics Department and the director of the Center for the Study of the International Economy (Centro de Investigación de la Economía Internacional) at the University of Havana. With a PhD in economics from the University of Havana, he has studied Cuba's agroindustry and the sugar industry in particular, as well as economic development processes and trade relations in a comparative context with recent studies focusing on the European Union, the United States, Vietnam and China. He has pursued short-term studies at the University of Milan and has been a visiting researcher the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC).  His recent publications include “La Empresa y la Reforma Económica en China” in Revista de la Economía Mundial (CIEI, 2004) and “El mercado internacional del azúcar, edulcorantes, alcohol y melaza” in La economía cubana coyuntura, reflexiones y oportunidades  (CEEC and Fundación Friedrich Ebert, 2000). At Harvard, he will spend time as a visiting research to advance a study on Cuba-U.S. bilateral trade that will seek to examine agriculture and related sectors.

Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva is a professor in the Economics Department and a member of the Centro for the Study of the Cuban Economy (Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana) at the University of Havana.  He received his PhD in economics from the University of Havana and a Master’s degree in economic and international political economy from the Centro de Investigaciones y Docencias Económicas in Mexico City.  A macroeconomist, his recent publications include  The Cuban Economy at the Start of the Twenty-First Century (Harvard University Press, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 2004) for which he was a co-editor with Jorge I. Domínguez, and Lorena Barberia; La relaidad de lo imposible: La salud pública en Cuba with Miguel Figueras (Editorial Ciencias Sociales, 1998), “Foreign Direct Investment in Cuba: Recent Experience and Prospects” in Development Prospects in Cuba- An Agenda in the Making (edited by Pedro Monreal González, et.al., Institute of Latin American Studies, 2002).  He served as an advisor to the City of Havana from 2000 to 2002 and in the Spring of 2007 was a visiting professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes de l’Amérique latine (IHEAL) at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle.  At Harvard, he will advance research on a Ford Foundation project seeking to applied economic research on the Cuban economy and the feasibility of Cuba’s development goal by 2030.

Raúl Rodríguez Rodríguez is a professor and researcher at the Center for the Study of the Hemisphere and the United States (Centro de Estudios Hemisfericos  y sobre Estados Unidos) at the University of Havana. Mr. Rodríguez holds a master’s degree in 20^th century history and international relations from School of History and Social Sciences at the University of Havana and a degree in English from the Higher Institute of Foreign Languages. At the University of Havana, he teaches introductory and postgraduate courses on U.S. history and he has co- authored syllabi and taught courses on Cuban history and the History of U.S.-Cuban Relations in English language to undergraduate U.S. students from University of North Carolina, American University and University of Alabama on semester programs at the University of Havana since 2004. Mr. Rodríguez’s most recent publications include “Convergence and Divergence in United States and Canadian Cuba Policy post 1959: A Triangular Comparative Analysis,” in International Journal of Canadian Studies no 37, 2008 and “Las relaciones Estados Unidos Canadá en el contexto regional de América del Norte” in Estados Unidos: Una mirada en el siglo 21, edited by Jorge Hernández (Havana: Editorial Ciencias Sociales, 2009).  As a short-term visiting researcher, Mr. Rodríguez will seek to advance his research on U.S. and Canadian Cuba policy between 1959 and 1963.  This research focuses on the similarities and differences in the United States’ and Canada’s Cuba policy and a further exploration into its causes, U.S. influence over Canada or lack thereof and Cuba’s responses in the early years of the Cuban revolution.

Jorge Mario Sánchez Egozcue is an professor in the department of economics and a researcher at the Center for the Study of the Hemisphere and the United States (Centro de Estudios Hemisfericos  y sobre Estados Unidos)  at the University of Havana. A PhD candidate in a joint program in international economics of the University of Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Havana, his doctoral dissertation is on the challenges of Cuba’s reinsertion within Caribbean – U.S. trade. He received a Master’s degree from Carleton University Ottawa in international economics in 1995 and focuses on research related to international trade, macroeconomics, and economic and social development including applications of macro-econometric models to analyze questions focused on monetary policy (exchange rate regimes and inflation) and trade policies (elasticities, growth, regional policies, bilateral and triangular trade arrangements). His most recent publications include “U.S.-Caribbean Trade: The Challenges of Cuban Participation” in The Cuban Economy at the Start of the Twenty-First Century, edited by Jorge I. Domínguez, Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva and Lorena Barberia (Harvard University Press, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 2004) and “Redefining Cuba’s International Economic Interests” in Redefining Cuba’s Foreign Policy, edited by John Kirk and Michel Erisman (University Press of Florida, 2007).  A visiting professor in the Fall 2008 semester at the Institut des Hautes Etudes de l’Amérique latine (IHEAL) at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Jorge Mario will advance research on Cuba’s insertion in global markets and the impact on U.S.-Cuba trade at Harvard University.

DRCLAS hosted more than 60 Cuban scholars from 1998-2009. For a list of all former and expected visiting scholars, please click on the link below.