Youth Awakened for Cuba

Gloria Estefan Keynotes Cuba Conference in Princeton

Miami, April 20, 2006-  More than one hundred and fifty students and young professionals will gather in Princeton, NJ, April 20 to 23 to analyze the impact of identity on Cubans in exile and on the Island.   Students representing 44 schools will participate in the Princeton Harvard Cuba Conference sponsored by Raíces de Esperanza that will include a keynote address by Grammy Award winning artist, Gloria Estefan, and a pre-release screening of Andy Garcia's newest movie.

The Conference is entitled "Juventud Despierta" (Youth Awaken) and will appeal to cultural identity as a catalyst for greater individual identification with the pursuit of a pluralistic and democratic Cuban society.   In attempting to couple discussion and analysis with action, participants will work towards creatively harnessing and networking the resources of university students and young professionals in order to develop Cuban youth through academic, cultural and social platforms. Subsequently, Raíces will incorporate participants into a growing movement of solidarity with the Cuban youth that seek to be the authors of their own futures.

"We hope this conference will be more than an event," said Raíces de Esperanza's spokesperson Joanna Gonzalez.   "We hope it will be a catalyst that generates greater youth participation and leads to our generation establishing roots of hope for a free Cuba."

Speakers will include former commander and political prisoner of the Cuban Revolution, Huber Matos, pro-democracy activist Orlando Gutierrez, syndicated author Carlos Alberto Montaner, women and human rights activist Sylvia Iriondo, and Cuban-American businessman Carlos Saladrigas. Raíces de Esperanza will also feature live conference calls with youth leaders in the island.  The participants will also have the special opportunity to view a pre-release screening of Andy Garcia's Lost City, a new movie that has been 16 years in the making .

At the conference, Raíces de Esperanza will also launch a cultural project envisioned to make international solidarity for freedom of _expression a pop-culture phenomenon. Through the cultural project, Raíces will attempt to generate a platform of understanding through creative means and will seek to promote the need for pluralism through a grassroots tour of university campuses that employs the fundamental tenets of _expression, art and music.

The second conference held in 2005, successfully included participants from 33 universities and 15 nations and keynote addresses by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and former Uruguayan President Luis Alberto Lacalle.   Amongst others, some of this year's participating universities include:  Georgetown University, Harvard University, Boston College, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame, Princeton University and Stanford University.