Today, Engage Cuba announced the creation of the Engage Cuba Policy Council, a group comprised of renowned Cuba policy experts who will provide their expertise to inform the organization’s work.
Amid the complex dynamics of U.S.-Cuba politics, the Engage Cuba Policy Council will be uniquely situated to draw from their combined experiences in academia, policy and professional practice to provide unique insights into the opportunities and challenges emerging as the U.S.-Cuba relationship continues to progress.
Engage Cuba is a bipartisan 501(c)(4) public policy organization dedicated to coalescing and mobilizing American businesses, non-profit groups and concerned citizens for the purpose of supporting the ongoing U.S.‐Cuba normalization process. Engage Cuba advocates legislation to reform U.S. travel and trade restrictions with Cuba.
In coordination with the council launch, Engage Cuba Policy Council Advisors are contributing to a special Huffington Post blog series on U.S.-Cuba relations. Called “Huff Post: Rethinking the Future of US-Cuba Relations”, the site addresses current issues facing businesses and political leaders.
Among the advisors is Ted Henken, one of the authors of Entrepreneurial Cuba: The Changing Policy Landscape. Here is an interview the Cuba Journal conducted with Mr. Henken last year.
The book is wide in scope – but also practical for people interested in Cuba’s fascinating social and economic transformation. After reviewing the evolution of Cuba’s policies since 1959, the authors contrast the approaches of Fidel and Raúl Castro and explore in depth the responses of Cuban entrepreneurs to the new environment. Their work, rich in ethnographic research and extensive interviews, provides a revealing analysis of Cuba’s fledgling private sector. Among many insightful observations about Cuba, one particular focus of the book was to see, “how far has Raul’s apple fallen from Fidel’s tree,” according to Henken.
