Cuba: Post-Castro Challenges

THIS EVENT IS FULLY BOOKED

This event will take place one month after the Cuban National Assembly chooses the country’s next president, marking the start of a new, post-Castro era.

Cuba’s new leaders face daunting economic, political and social challenges. The economy is underperforming, with low levels of growth and productivity and severe price and exchange rate distortions. Decades of underinvestment has left much of the country’s essential infrastructure, including housing and transport, in a dilapidated condition. A promised process of restructuring, reform and opening has been painfully slow, while inequalities have been growing. Young people are looking abroad for opportunities – exacerbating the problems arising from a rapidly-ageing population. And with relations with the US having soured and Venezuela no longer able to provide support, there is an urgent need to diversify trading relations and build new international relationships.

Canning House is delighted to welcome four distinguished panellists to present their analysis of what we can expect from the post-Castro government in the face of these challenges, and the pitfalls and possibilities ahead: Professor Antoni Kapcia, Cuba Research Forum, University of Nottingham; Dr Emily Morris, UCL Institute of the Americas; Professor Jorge Peña Diaz, Centre for Urban Studies, Technical University of Havana; and Professor Ricardo Torres, Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana, Havana. Baroness Hooper, Honorary Vice-President of Canning House, will chair this event.