Cuba at the OAS Summit April 10-11: Participation of Civil Society

• In Event: Cuba en tiempos de Raúl Castro: tendencias y nuevos desarrollos

Abstract

This paper intends to give an assessment of the Cuban civil society actors who come into play in connection with the Cuban participation in the 7th Summit of the Americas, held in Panama April 10th-11st, 2015. It intends to present the actors that will be the most important in the public debate, assess their manoeuvrability with regards to political society, and finally suggest a way of interpreting Cuban civil society actors, as the dynamic between civil and political society is changing.

Thereafter it will evaluate the debate that will take place surrounding the summit, in order to assess how the recent negotiations between Cuban foreign ministry’s director general for U.S. affairs, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, and US assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, Roberta Jacobson, have influenced the way international society can approach civil society actors in Cuba.

Author

• Sjamme Herman Joseph Van de Voort, Aarhus Universitet