Waterloo, Ontario – March 19, 2010 – Jorge Domínguez, a leading Latin American scholar at Harvard University, will give a talk at The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) on March 26, as part of the International Governance Speakers Series.
Entitled Bringing Cuba back into the Inter-American System: Problems and Prospects, Dr. Domínguez’s talk will examine the on-going efforts of many countries in the Western hemisphere to engage Cuba more constructively.
Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1962 because of its non-democratic political system. In 2009, the OAS voted to conditionally lift Cuba's suspension, but the country declined to rejoin. In recent years, Latin American and Caribbean countries have increasingly asserted their independence from North American policies. They most recently demonstrated their autonomy by sidestepping the OAS and creating a new regional alliance called the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which excludes the United States and Canada.
Cuban President Raúl Castro welcomed the newly minted alternative to the OAS, describing the new bloc as a “historic move toward the constitution of a purely Latin American and Caribbean regional organization.” Although the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States’ role hasn’t been clearly defined, it is likely to have implications for Canada and the United States, as well as the wider Inter-American system.
Dr. Domínguez is the Antonio Madero Professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics in the Department of Government at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, where he researches domestic and international politics of Latin American countries. He is the author of numerous books, among them The Cuban Economy at the Start of the Twenty-First Century and To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy. He was series editor for the Peabody Award-winning Public Broadcasting System television series Crisis in Central America.
CIGI Chair of Global Governance and Distinguished Fellow Jorge Heine will introduce the speaker. A question-and-answer session follows the lecture which is co-presented by CIGI and the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
Although this event is not open to the public, Dr. Domínguez is available for interviews prior to and after his talk on Friday.
EVENT: Bringing Cuba back into the Inter-American System: Problems and Prospects
DATE: Friday, March 26, 2010
TIME: 12:30 – 2:30 pm, lecture followed by a Q&A session
LOCATION:
The Centre for International Governance Innovation
Seagram Room
57 Erb Street West, Waterloo, Ontario
MEDIA CONTACT:
Mary-Lou Schagena
Communications Specialist
CIGI
Phone: 519.885.2444, ext. 238
E-mail: mschagena@cigionline.org
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, nonpartisan think tank that addresses international governance challenges. Led by a group of experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate, builds capacity, and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI's interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world. CIGI was founded in 2002 by Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM (Research In Motion), and collaborates with and gratefully acknowledges support from a number of strategic partners, in particular the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. For more information, please visit: www.cigionline.org
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