LASA Congress 2021

11-06-2021

The members of the Europe-Cuba Jean Monnet Network Forum participated in the LASA Congress 2021 that took place from May 26 to 29, 2021 with the theme “Global crisis, inequalities and the centrality of life” and which was held virtually.

The Europe-Cuba Forum organized a panel on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, which focused on the theme of "Cuba: Social Policy in Hard Times" in which part of the works of the second monograph of the project entitled "Cuba: Social policies and institutional reform for times after the Covid” corresponding to the research carried out in the second year of the project and which was coordinated by Bert Hoffmann of the GIGA, who in turn was the organizer of the panel.

In this session, the current situation in Cuba was exposed, which is in a period of crisis, reforms, and sanctions to which the Covid-19 health crisis has been added. The panel was moderated by Anna Ayuso, Senior Researcher at CIDOB and coordinator of the Foro Europa Cuba Jean Monnet Network.

The participants who presented their work on Cuba in the monograph were: Bert Hoffmann, from the GIGA who presented his work on “Las políticas sociales en Cuba: La agenda pos-Covid”. Subsequently, Laurence A. Whitehead from the University of Oxford presented his analysis on “Governance challenges in contemporary Cuba: social policies and the UN’s sustainable development goals”. For her part, Anicia Esther García Álvarez, from the University of Havana, commented the analysis on the “Accesibilidad a los alimentos en Cuba: situación actual y desafíos” and Betsy Anaya Cruz, also from the University of Havana, spoke about the “Política social en Cuba: logros y retos desde la administración pública”. Finally, Blandine Destremau (CNRS Iris / EHESS) presented her work on “Who is going to take care of me? Aging and care regime in Cuba”. A Challenge for social policy reforms”. Eric Hershberg of the American University was the commentator in charge of responding to the presentations that also received questions from the public.

Two other members of the Europe-Cuba Jean Monnet Network Forum consortium participated in a second panel on May 27, 2021, that focused on "The new interregional and bilateral agenda European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean", sponsored by the Europe-Latin America Section. The panel exposed the impact of global, regional, and national changes in the relationship between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, which are being reactivated despite the global recession. In addition, the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, in the last five years have renewed agreements and promoted projects on free trade, sustainable development, and security. Consequently, the session presented the different studies on the changes present in the region, highlighting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The session was moderated by Susanne S. Gratius from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a member of the consortium, and Adrian Bonilla, director of the FEU-LAC Foundation / FLACSO, was the commentator for the session.

Anna Ayuso, CIDOB was the organizer of the session and her participation focused on the “Challenges for cooperation on regional and interregional security in the Atlantic area”. The other two members of the Europe-Cuba Forum who made presentations were: Elisa Botella-Rodríguez from the University of Salamanca who presented, “El sistema alimentario pos-Covid-19: perspectivas y análisis para Cuba y su relación con la UE”; and the researcher José Chofre who spoke about “El acuerdo entre la UE y Cuba y la nueva Constitución: una simbiosis fundamental”.