Mojito nights, domino tournaments and Latin dance shows are just a few of the events the members of the Cuban and American Student Association gather to discuss. The students in CASA, however, have accomplished much more than hosting social events during the span of only four years.
CASA began in 2005 as the Freedom Writers for Cuba, said founder Laura Rodriguez, a 2007 College graduate. The initial goal was to create a successful letter-writing campaign through which University students sent letters to political prisoners in Cuba.
“We can’t be positive that the prisoners actually receive the letters,“ said Vice President Julliana Gallardo, a fourth-year Graduate Arts & Sciences student. “The campaign was more of a symbolic act to let the prisoners know that people here care and are thinking about them, to let the Cuban government know that these people who they are keeping prisoners are not forgotten.”
The campaign was inarguably a huge success. CASA hoped to have 1,000 letters signed, said Antonino DiMaggio, a fourth-year Graduate Arts & Sciences student and co-founder of CASA. They received 1,200.
“We started CASA as a full-on movement of educating people about Cuban culture and human rights issues,” DiMaggio said.
Since the letter-writing campaign in 2005, the members have continued to promote awareness. In spring 2007, exiled Cuban artist Alberto Godoy and L.E. Salas, the director of the documentary, “Lejos de la Isla ”(Far from Island), visited the University for a showing of the movie followed by a question-and-answer session. The movie, which discusses the effects of the Cuban political system on individual families actually inspired Gallardo to become a member of CASA toward the end of her second year of graduate school.
Additionally, for three consecutive years, members also have represented the University at conferences sponsored by CASAs at other universities.
“The conferences are very organized and comprehensive because there is a lot to learn and discuss,” said first-year College student Jacqueline Pujol, who will attend one of the conferences, GenerAcción,, otherwise known as Generation in Action, in April.
Topics of discussion include awareness, racism in Cuba and recent policy changes like the repealed ban against cell phones. “One of the things we will probably discuss is the donation of cell phones to Cuba because the supply there is really low, resulting in their cost being really high,” Pujol said.
Past conferences include visits to Princeton in 2006, the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 and Duke in 2008, DiMaggio said.
Gallardo said all CASAs at participating universities are within a national umbrella organization called Raices de Esperanza, or Roots of Hope. “This organization actually formed after the formation of CASA by members who were interested in staying active after graduating college,” Gallardo said. “Laura Rodriguez, one of the founders [of CASA at the University] is actually still active through this organization, now that she has graduated.”
With the common goal of raising awareness and promoting freedom of expression in Cuba, members meet regularly every other Monday night at 9 p.m. in Clark Hall. “The feeling of being in a Cuban community isn’t really something I had in high school,” Pujol said. It is, however, something he found after joining CASA.
Third-year College student Amanda Perez shared Pujol’s sentiments. “Coming from Miami, which is a totally different cultural experience compared to here, it is nice to have a group of students to relate to.”
Perez said a personal goal of hers next year is to broaden the community understanding of the history and political scene in Cuba.
“I know it’s a touchy subject with a lot of different opinions,” she said, “but different perspectives are always interesting, and at the very least it helps people get a clue about what’s going on.”
The outreach coordinator for the group, first-year College student Nicolas Newman, predicts nothing but success for the future of CASA.
“This year was kind of a rebirth because we were able to really get [CASA] back on its toes,” Newman said. “We as a group have gotten to be really close and have accomplished a lot this past semester. Most of the officers, like myself, are first-years, so at the very least [for] the next three years CASA will have very committed leaders.”
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