On this UVA Speaks podcast, Cristina Lopez-Gottardi Chao, Assistant Professor and Chair of Public Programming at The Miller Center at the University of Virginia, provides an overview and context of Cuba’s political leadership and the current economic crisis. She discusses the July 2021 protests that broke out across the country, the corresponding crackdown and detentions by President Díaz-Canel’s regime, and the current status of U.S. – Cuban relations.

Transcripts of the audio broadcast can be found here. https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/TGTa1x0y7dX7ipoYDBu1sDVFjkHEnx7KC7dtZytwRkLiINwuabXgDdo9p8ErjFpFo8khBseyNe4IgSQ5UWBLExgW9BI?loadFrom=SharedLink

Cristina Lopez-Gottardi Chao is an Assistant Professor and Chair of Public Programming at The Miller Center at the University of Virginia. Her scholarship examines the evolving nature of U.S.-Cuban relations, the state of human rights on the island, and Cuba’s opposition and dissident movement. The December 2014 change in U.S.-Cuban relations, and the direct role played by President Obama in altering this policy, has created an alignment between her core scholarship with a focus on the American presidency, and in particular, executive decision-making.