Tonight, Castlemaine Free University presents Cuba then and Now at the Northern Arts Hotel, 7pm-9pm.

WHAT? — As protests broke out mid-2021 in Cuban cities and towns, US media and others iterated the death of the Cuban Revolution. With decades of experience and research in Cuba, David Deutschmann and Deborah Shnookal explain the origins and significance of these protests and Cuba’s revolutionary project. They assess prospects for renewal of the normalisation talks begun under President Obama, then cancelled by President Trump and now in the hands of Joe Biden.

WHO? — David Deutschmann and Deborah Shnookal cofounded Ocean Press, an international book publisher of books from and about Latin America. David was adviser for Steven Soderbergh’s two-part bio-pic Che (2009), has regularly travelled to Cuba for 36 years and is editor of Che Guevara Reader (2005) and Fidel Castro Reader (2017). Similarly, Deborah is an editor and writer, including Operation Pedro Pan and the Exodus of Cuba’s Children (2020, University Press of Florida).