An Open Letter To The Latin American Studies Association (LASA)

On May 8, a petition was posted online, authored by members of the Latin American Studies Association, demanding that the association issue an official statement condemning the Cuban government’s ongoing human rights violations in general and its attacks on Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Tania Bruguera, Luis Robles, and the San Isidro Movement. Such a request is not without precedent: LASA has issued such statements in the past, condemning human rights violations by the Pinochet government in Chile and other right-wing dictatorships.

The petition in defense of Cuban artists and intellectuals has since been signed by over 300 LASA members and several panelists spoke openly about their concerns regarding these matters at the LASA conference that took place from May 26-29, 2021.

In response to this request that LASA issued a statement denouncing the systematic violation of human rights in Cuba, the association has failed to recognize the repressive nature of the Cuban dictatorship. Instead, LASA issued a statement that redirects our attention to a third country, the US, and its embargo policy. In doing do, LASA transforms the expression of solidarity and the demand for attention to the persecution of artists and activists on the island into an opportunity to reiterate its longstanding criticism of the United States. The US embargo has been condemned already in many contexts and circumstances by a considerable number of the signatories of the LASA petition, but it is completely unrelated to the abuses of Cuban power against its citizens.

The statement published by LASA insists upon a relationship of interdependence between the U.S. trade embargo and the violation of human rights in Cuba. It is precisely this logic, which justifies repression as a necessary consequence of US policy, that LASA should condemn. Human Rights are not contingent upon a country’s foreign affairs. LASA’s blindness to the current prison climate in Cuba makes us doubt its commitment and comprehensive analysis of the Cuban and Latin American reality. To make the absurdity of this situation clearer to non-Cubans, we offer the following analogy: imagine that in response to the killing of George Floyd and the demands for reforms of racist policing practices, it would be argued that Russia’s interference in the US elections would have to be considered as a determinant factor.

In response to the poor logic of LASA’s pronouncement, we affirm that the US embargo does not justify the violation of human rights in Cuba. In fact, by equating it with the current situation of persecution and criminalization of dissent on the island, those who have drafted the long-awaited declaration coincide with the repressive and criminal logic of the Cuban State according to which "Cuba has the right to defend itself" and repression would be a legitimate defense mechanism. To be more precise, LASA has allied itself with the perpetrator of state violence, thereby affecting its credibility as an institution dedicated to Latin American studies. In response to all the above, dozens of members have declared that we are no longer able to belong to LASA's academic community and have cancelled our current memberships. Human rights are either respected or violated. The Cuban government has systematically violated them for decades. For this it can count on LASA's complicity; but never on ours.

Sincerely Yours,

1.   Ted Henken

2.   Guillermina De Ferrari

3.   Walfrido Dorta

4.   Esther Whitfield

5.   Cesar Perez, 

6.   Francis Sanchez,

7.    Ileana Alvarez, 

8.   Carlos A. Aguilera

9.   Abel Sierra Madero

10.  Yoandy Cabrera Ortega

11.  Armando Chaguaceda

12.  Mabel Cuesta

13.  Carmelo Mesa Lago

14.  Mónica Simal

15.  Yesenia Selier

16.  Carlos de la Torre 

17.  Jossianna Arroyo

18.  Salomé García Bacallao

19.  Janet Batet

20.  Magdalena López

21.  Alejandro González Acosta

22.  Elvis Fuentes

23.  Yaima Pardo

24.  Carolina Barrero

25.  Leonardo Calvo Cárdenas

26.  Emily Maguire

27.  Haroldo Dilla Alfonso. 

28.  Paloma Duong

29.  Juan Carlos Quintero Herencia

30.  Odette Casamayor-Cisneros

31.  Manuel Barcia Paz

32.  Francisco Morán

33.  Daylet Domínguez

34.  Alejandro de la Fuente

35.  Mirta Suquet

36.  Maybel Mesa

37.  Ada Ferrer

38.  Carlos Malamud

39.  Sonia Labrador

40.  Olga M. Romero Mestas

41.  Yissel Arce

42.  Jorge Brioso

43. Yansi Pérez

44.  Boris Gonzalez Arenas

45.  Tania Bruguera

46.  Enrique Del Risco

47.  Pablo de Cuba Soria

48.  Marial Iglesias Utset

49.  Luis Miguel García Mora

50.  Enrique Pumar

51.  Arturo Matute-Castro

52.  Angel Esteban

53.  Coco Fusco

54.  José Quiroga

55.  Anke Birkenmaier

56.  Lourdes Dávila

57. Lillian Guerra