Breakfast Debate: What does the new relationship between the United States and Cuba mean to Floridians?
FT. LAUDERDALE – On Thursday, February 5, 2015 Tower Forum will host a breakfast debate on Floridians new relationship with Cuba.
What does the future hold for Cuba-U.S. relations at this important moment in time? How can Floridians move it forward for us as well as the Cuban community? Knowledgeable and experienced panelists and veteran Latin America journalist discuss multiple directions in the controversial and timely issue. They will present opposing opinions that support embracing the policy shift as a way to influence democratic reform or holding on to the position that we cannot move to normalizing the troubled relationship with a Castro still in power and the Communist Party holding sway.
MODERATOR: Tim Padgett is WLRN-Miami Herald News’ Americas correspondent covering Latin America and the Caribbean from Miami. He has covered Latin America for almost 25 years, for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief, and for Time as its Latin America bureau chief, first in Mexico from 1996 to 1999 and then in Miami, where he also covered Florida and the U.S. Southeast, from 1999 to 2013.
PANELISTS:
Alfredo Duran is a Cuban-born lawyer in Miami and veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion who has long been an advocate for dialogue to bring about change in Cuba. A former president of the Bay of Pigs veterans association, he was expelled from the group in 1993 for advocating for peaceful dialogue with Cuba. He is a former school board member in Miami-Dade, a former chair of the Florida Democratic Party and is presently a director of the Cuban Committee for Democracy.
Jim Cason, Mayor of the City of Coral Gables, was first elected on April 12, 2011. He is a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer with more than 40 years of national and international public service, including extensive experience in Latin America as a leader of multi-agency Embassy communities. He is fluent in five languages.
Frank Calzon is executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, a Washington, DC-based organization dedicated to promoting human rights and a transition to democracy on the island. Calzon, a Cuban native is regularly featured in such national newspapers as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He has appeared on television broadcasts such as the PBS The News Hour and on several MSNBC, CNN, and FOX programs.
The breakfast will be held at the Tower Club, 28th floor, One Financial Plaza, 100 SE 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, doors open at 7 a.m.; program begins at 7:45 a.m. Gratis for paid members of the Tower Forum; non-members: $35, includes breakfast and parking; credit card online or check to Tower Forum, P.O. Box #15041, Plantation, FL 33318.
For information or reservations, log onto www.towerforum.org
The event is sponsored in part by Broward Medical Health Center.
