IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 6 ENGLISH | Page 5

From the Editor

T

he sixth issue of IDENTIDADES
comes out after our working sessions
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which took
place at the same time as the 2015 LASA
conference. They became a wonderful space
for analyzing and dialoguing about the
multiple activities planned and executed by
members of Cuba’s independent civil society.
The Plataforma de Integración Cubana
devotes much attention to them and offers
them support.

The Workshop on Theory and Practice of
Deliberative Democracy held on May 28th
reveals the strength that this basic concept is
gaining in Cuba little by little. This is what
Manuel Cuesta Morúa’s article “Mature
Deliberative Democracy” demonstrated.
This concept is essential to democratic
practice among Cubans. Even more satisfying
was the fact that we were able to hold this
event in the main assembly hall of the Center
for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the
Caribbean,
with
collaboration
from
archeologist Dr. Miguel Rodríguez López, the
institution’s Rector. The session went on for
two hours, looking a deliberative democracy
from multiple angles, and its potential for
developing democratic processes in very
different socio-political contexts.

Our narrative chronicles some of the
evening’s essential interventions. Thus, the
presentation by Professor Robert Cavalier,
Director of the Carnegie Mellon University
Program for Deliberative Democracy, insisted
on the points necessary to build a democratic
process and offered examples of how that
process is being employed in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, where it has highlighted citizen
viewpoints,
professionalism,
and
the
importance of establishing a well structured
environment and background information. It
has been a process in which participants have
the possibility of reflecting, nurturing respect
and tolerance for other’s opinions, as well as a
civic culture that seeks consensus. Valeriano
Ramos, Director of Strategic Alliances and
Equity Officer for EveryDay Democracy,
offered examples of “organization and the
effort that is being made to involved
communities in the process of democratic
deliberation and action for change. He
stressed the importance of there being a result
after a dialogue.” And, Ambassador Martin
Palous, Director of the Vaclav Havel Initiative
at Florida International University (FIU)
offered his experiences based upon the
historic events that took place in
Czechoslovakia, to highlight the importance
of the deliberative process before and after the
transition to democracy. On the Cuban side,
Juan Antonio Madrazo, National Coordinator
for the Citizens’ Committee for Racial
Integration, made reference to the fact that
deliberative democracy is at work in Cuba as
a tool for generating pluralistic participation
among citizens, and has become an attractive
concept for people to return cordially to
political activity. Cuesta Morúa emphasized
that this consensual practice is very needed
among Cubans in their search for a new
model, that it acts as a mechanism for
working towards democracy and leads to a
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