EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 5:30-7 p.m. Feb. 4, 2015

EVENT: Decades of mistrust. Human rights violations accusations. Billions of dollars of debt. The University of Michigan’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies will hold a panel discussion about the challenges and opportunities to politicians and diplomats will face in re-establishing U.S.-Cuba relations. The event, “Walking the Tightrope for Success,” is free and open to the public.

Panelists will include:

• Melvyn Levitsky, former U.S. ambassador to Brazil, is a professor of international policy and practice at U-M’s Ford School of Public Policy. His expertise includes politics, economics, diplomacy and drug policy.
• Silvia Pedraza, professor of sociology and American culture, was born in Cuba and immigrated to the U.S. as a child. Her research focuses on the exodus from Cuba over the half century of the revolution. She is the author of the book “Political Disaffection in Cuba’s Revolution and Exodus.”
• Ruth Behar, professor of anthropology and a MacArthur Fellow, also is a native of Cuba who immigrated to the U.S. as a child after the revolution. She has visited Cuba many times and has written extensively about crossing cultural borders.

The discussion will be moderated by Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, associate professor of American culture and history.

PLACE: Walter and Leonore Annenberg Auditorium at the Ford School of Public Policy

SPONSORS: Organized by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the event is co-sponsored by Michigan News and the International Policy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Cuban Research Institute in the School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University

INFORMATION: Live stream will be available at ii.umich.edu/lacs. Follow the conversation live @NoticiasUM.