Truman State University Spring Break trip to Cuba
Coordinated by Witness for
Peace and the Martin Luther King Center
March 10-18, 2018
Only 90 miles from the United States, Cuba has remained a forbidden territory for most U.S. citizens since the Revolution of 1959. Cuba is a former Spanish colony and sugar-producing slave society, and one of the last countries of Latin America to achieve independence from Spain in 1898. Between 1898 and 1959, the United States held an outsized influence on the island. In 1959, Cuban was the site of the hemisphere’s first successful socialist revolution. While most people in the United States know little about Cuba today, Cubans are acutely aware of the United States and the long intertwined history between the two countries.
My (unedited) notes from the trip:
- Introduction to the Martin Luther King Center (March 11)
- Conversation with Angelina Rojas about the history of the Left in Cuba (March 12)
- Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) (March 12)
- Old Havana, the city’s historical center, with Professor Benito Albiza (March 12)
- National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) (March 14)
- Afro-Cuban religions (March 14)
- Santa Clara Pediatric hospital (March 16)