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 2008-09

Carlos Aragonés López is an epidemiologist in the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) and founding and current National Director of GPSIDA (Grupo de Prevención de SIDA). Holding degrees in computer engineering and radiochemistry, Mr. Aragonés received his Master’s Degree in Epidemiology from the IPK.  At the IPK, he has participated in numerous studies aimed at examining the impact of programs on prevention of HIV and effectiveness of treatment for persons living with HIV/AIDS.  With colleagues at the IPK, his most recent research is directed at examining the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral treatment in Cuban patients with nationally produced generics. Author of several articles on HIV/AIDS in Cuba, Mr. Aragonés is a member of the Board of Directors of Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and a representative from Cuba to the Latin American Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (REDLA+) [Red Latinoamericana de Personas Viviendo con VIH/SIDA]. In addition, he has received numerous national merit awards for his leadership and outstanding professional contributions.  He is co-author of 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, Carlos will advance research related to a joint Harvard-IPK research seeking to examine AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and the impact of the provision of effective AIDS therapy on quality of life and the illness experience of AIDS patients.  

Natalia María Bolívar Aróstegui is an anthropologist, museologist and specialist in Afro-Cuban religions. Trained by 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, 3rd 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. Natalia 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 an Associate Researcher and Professor at the University of Havana´s Center for the Study of the United States (Centro para el Estudio de los Estados Unidos (CESEU)). 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 panelistto 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). Currently, Soraya is 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 EconomíaCubana) at the University of Havana. Holding a PhD in International Economics from the University of Havana’s Department of Economics, 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 the Republic in 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, ed. 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 research to advance a study on Cuba-U.S. bilateral trade that will seek to examine agriculture and related sectors.

Gerardo Martínez Machín is the Head of the Department of Bacteriology and Mycology at the Institute of Tropical Medicine "Pedro Kourí" 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 (CEEC) 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.

Jorge Pérez Ávila is the Director of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) Hospital, Deputy Director of the IPK and the former Director of the Sanatorium of Santiago de Las Vegas for medical care of people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, Dr. Pérez has an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Havana where he has taught since 1982. A member of several scientific committees including his current work with the National Commission of AIDS and the IPK Scientific Council, Dr. Pérez has published more than 80 articles in both national and international journals, and has served as a member of the editorial board for the Revista Cubana de Medicina Tropical. In addition to participating in many national and international seminars, conferences, and workshops, including the International AIDS Conferences, Dr. Pérez has been on the Advisory Board for the Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change in the Department of Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School since 1999. He received his medical degree in 1973 from the University of Havana. He obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Pharmacology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and worked at the Montreal General Hospital and Royal Victoria Hospital. Dr. Pérez also did further postgraduate studies at The University of Liverpool and the Center for Tropical Diseases at University of Lowell Massachusetts in 1981, as well as Case Western University in Cleveland and University of Rockford, Illinois in 1982. Dr. Pérez has just completed SIDA: Confesiones a un Medico(Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (CNES) and Centro Nacional de Prevención ITS/SIDA, 2006), a book on the evolution of the epidemic and Cuba's national program told through the stories of 34 patients. Dr. Pérez will be in residence for four weeks at Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine in the spring semester of 2007 advancing current research on Cuba's AIDS Program with Professor Arachu Castro.

Omar Everleny Pérez Villanueva is a Researcher at the Centro for the Study of the Cuban Economy (CEEC) and a Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Havana.  He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Havana and a Master’s 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.  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 United States (CESEU) at the University of Havana. Mr. Rodríguez holds a Master’s in History and Social Sciences School from the University of Havana in 20th Century History and International Relations 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. Mr. Rodríguez’s most recent publications include articles on the “Origins of the U.S. Trade Embargo of Cuba” with Eduardo Lorenzo in the Instituto Superior Pedagógico de  de Lenguas Extranjeras (1996), “Canadian Cuban Relations: A Brief Historical Account,” in Revista de la Asociación Mexicana de Estudios Canadienses (2004) and, “The United States Trade Embargo and Canadian and Cuban Relations 1959-1962” in the Organization for the History of Canada Conference Papers (University is British Columbia Press, 2005).  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 Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and a researcher at the Center for the Study of the United States 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 in 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, ed. 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, ed. John Kirk and Michel Erisman (University Press of Florida, 2007).  As a short-term visiting scholar at Harvard University, Jorge Mario will advance research on Cuba´s insertion in global markets and the impact on U.S.-Cuba trade.

DRCLAS hosted a total of 60 Cuban scholars from 1998-2005. For a list of all former and expected visiting scholars, please click on the link below.