APRIL 14, 1999
By Meg Laughlin, Herald Staff Writer
Published
Saturday, April 3, 1999, in
the Miami Herald
University of Miami Cuba scholar Jaime Suchlicki is heading a new institute at the school that will enable him to pursue his determination to keep the Cuba of old alive.
The Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, funded by the university, had its official launch on Friday.
Its purpose is to study Cuban and Cuban-American culture and politics. Mostly, the culture studied will be Cuban culture before 1959, before Castro. Mostly, the politics studied will be politics during the Castro regime, from 1959 to the present.
Suchlicki loves Cuban dances like the mambo. He hates ending the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba. So, he envisions a program that will focus on the two periods: art, music, dance, science and health in the Cuba of old, and politics after the revolution that led to the embargo -- and what Cuba might be like when Castro is no longer president.
As for art, music, dance, science and health in Castro's Cuba for the past 40 years, ``We'll rely on books and research for that; we won't have an exchange of people, '' Suchlicki says, explaining that he wants to support the embargo.
But he says he'll invite speakers who oppose the embargo. ``I'm enough of an academic to want balance in the political discussions,'' he said.
Wayne Smith, director of Cuba Exchange at Johns Hopkins University, fears that the political discussions will not be balanced. ``Unfortunately, in Miami, with such a powerful right-wing exile community, it is very difficult to get objectivity,'' Smith said.
Suchlicki is unfazed. ``We'll try for it,'' he said. ``We'll invite Wayne Smith, who's against the embargo, to speak. It is very important that people understand we are not promoting a point of view.''
Born in Cuba in 1939, Suchlicki came to the United States in 1960. He received a Ph.D. in Latin American studies from Texas Christian University and became a well-known professor of Cuban studies at UM. He has written several books and numerous articles on Cuba.
He believes right-wing Cuban exiles in Miami are softening, becoming more accepting of divergent views on Cuba. The academic objectivity he is seeking, he says, will not be a problem to achieve. ``It's not like it used to be,'' he says. ``Many of us are more accepting, and the Institute for Cuba and Cuban-American Studies will reflect this.''
Copyright 1999 Miami Herald
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