Assoc. Prof @UMiamiHistory | Cuban Studies Chair @univmia | Dir. Academic Programs @UMCHC | Cuban Memory Wars '21 | The Rev. from W/in '19 | Opinions my own.
Miami, FL
Joined May 2015
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Michael J Bustamante, Ph.D. retweeted
Excellent thread @MJ_Busta on the "eye-popping" boom in trade between US and #Cuba, especially oil to private sector, in midst of Washington's campaign to throttle the regime in Havana.
The motto: if you can't change the politics, at least you can seize the market.
Just wrapped my favorite Cuban history class: discussing Memorias del subdesarrollo.
Students never agree on its meaning.
As Titón later reflected, overcoming “underdevelopment” means learning to think for oneself.
Still relevant, aquí y allá.
youtube.com/watch?v=YjObbSH4…
Cubanos deportados se las arreglan para sobrevivir en Bangui, República Centroafricana. Increíble.
revistaelestornudo.com/sobre…
Amid max pressure, Sherritt and its potential U.S. buyers (including major Republican donor) appear to be making headway toward restarting Cuba business.
Surprising b4 midterms. Makes you wonder: who is the Trump-connected lobbyist that made this happen?
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Interesting new work on Cuba's crypto-based gaming economy. Apparently, this is a thing.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…
The amount of ugliness this thread has generated is depressing.
Digging in partisan heels, on one side. Blanket insults of all "Miami Cubans" on the other.
What a world.
For non-Miamians, let me invite you into the locura of our election silly season.
So, Hakeem Jeffries comes to town to campaign w D candidate for FL-27 Elliot Rodriguez. Surprising no one, they do a lazy stop at a local bakery for the ritual cafecito.
nbcmiami.com/elections/hakee…
The lead-up to the annual UN Cuba embargo vote has turned into an uglier spectacle than usual.
miamiherald.com/news/nation-…
Realidad como tragedia.
A nation for all, diría Martí, where the island's citizens are capable of peacefully navigating disagreements on their own terms, seems so painfully far off.
Wrote this 4 years ago.
Much has changed, & there are heightened stakes for the vote given US administration's unprecedented pressure campaign since January.
But my diagnosis of false either/or debates the exercise reliably generates still holds.
hypermediamagazine.com/socie…
Because after New Directions in Cuban Studies, no paramos.
Join us on Nov. 4th for a virtual presentation of the new book “Memory in Contemporary Cuban Film and Digital Media: Entangled Temporalities.”
mailchi.mp/miami.edu/librari…
Michael J Bustamante, Ph.D. retweeted
“You end up with this tortured relationship…This administration wants to push Cuba to the brink, but not force it over the precipice into a full-blown collapse that it knows it will then own," Herrero said. “So, it leaves the island on life support, with the United States the primary provider of that support, the fuel and the chicken and the basic hygiene products, flowing through the Cuban private sector — but not doing more to empower or formally recognize that private sector.”
#Cuba's private sector helps avert humanitarian catastrophe - even though it 'doesn't exist' Our @WLRN report.wlrn.org/americas/2026-10-06…
Recent coverage of US oil sales to Cuba has produced whiplash: a new private-sector opening, eye-popping numbers revised down, measurable relief but no macro fix—and a US govt enabling the trade while taking steps that may make it harder.
Abro 🧵
(Image: N Perez for Reuters.)
But a source linked to one company told the Miami Herald that ENETEC was only an intermediary and licensed private firms were the end-users.
If every unavoidable state touchpoint disqualifies trade, “supporting Cuban entrepreneurs” may be unworkable.
miamiherald.com/news/nation-…
