Cuban journalist, blogger and professor Elaine Díaz says Cuba is poised for big change as our two countries begin talks about ending a 50-year embargo and normalizing relations. But she also says the country is hardly frozen in time.
“It could feel really, really old,” she says of the old American cars in the street and the old buildings. “But actually it’s a really modern culture.”
Díaz is a featured speaker at 6:00 tonight at the International Affairs Forum in Traverse City. She says Cuba is already heavily influenced by Hollywood and American pop culture and after the 1990s Cuba opened its doors to places such as Canada, Europe, China and elsewhere.
“I think we have a very open country,” she says. “Where people interact with each other and with people from all over the world."