Today’s conversation with journalist
was one of those episodes where you feel the room collectively sit up straighter. Arturo didn’t just join us — he taught us. And he started by teaching something Americans almost never hear clearly: the reality of racism in Cuba and how the U.S. debate around Cuban politics gets flattened, sanitized, or twisted beyond recognition.Arturo walked us through the gap between Cuba’s revolutionary myth and the lived experience of Black Cubans, explaining how state narratives erase racial inequity even as anti-Black discrimination persists across institutions. He talked about what “anti-racism” means inside a one-party state, how dissent is suppressed, and why diasporic Cubans — especially Black Cubans — sit in a complicated relationship with both the U.S. and Cuban governments. It was clarifying, unvarnished, and grounded in lived reality rather than slogans.
From there, he led us through the structural limits of U.S. media when covering Latin America. Arturo didn’t mince words: if you’re relying on major American outlets to understand the region, you’re getting an incomplete — often distorted — picture. He named the publications that do get it right, including Telesur, Latino Rebels, and El Pais. These are the places he urged our audience to follow if they want to understand what’s really happening in Latin America rather than the caricatures served up by cable news.
The stories Arturo told throughout the hour were extraordinary — from the ways authoritarian governments use racial rhetoric as a shield, to cartel-state entanglements, to the long shadow of U.S. intervention shaping regional instability. He talked about journalists on the ground whose work gets ignored because it doesn’t fit the simplistic binaries Americans prefer. He talked about migrant realities few politicians ever bother to learn. And he talked about communities surviving despite the forces aligned against them.
What made the conversation so electric is that Arturo doesn’t posture. He explains. He contextualizes. He connects dots the rest of us didn’t even realize were on the page. And he carries a deep sense of responsibility — to truth, to the region, and to the people whose stories don’t make it into sanitized American narratives.
By the end, our chat was buzzing — grateful, animated, and a little stunned by how much they learned in an hour. And honestly? Same.
Thank you
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