IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 2 ENGLISH | Page 6

We are wrapping up this second issue of IDENTIDADES in the midst of our organizational
work towards our participation at the May 2015
Latin American Studies Association’s conference, in Chicago. Something about which we are
all alarmed are the measures the Cuban government has applied to Manuel Cuesta Morúa, in
their effort to prohibit his participation at the
meeting—a conference whose precise theme will
be democracy.

In a public letter titled “Why Am I Not at
LASA?” Cuesta Morúa addresses the conference
organizers and attendees: “In today’s intolerant
Cuban society, the law exists only for enemies.”
The earliest glimpses of what Cuesta Morúa was
in for show he was arbitrarily arrested just as he
was attempting to organize a meeting that would
serve as an alternative to the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit held in Havana, in January 2014. Once released, a cautionary measure was applied to him
that limited his citizen’s rights.

6

The accusation against him that he was “Disseminating false news against world peace was mo F