TOPIC: Ambassador Vicki Huddleston's book, "Our WOMAN IN HAVANA," was
published March 13, 2018. She will be speaking to the BCFR about her
experiences in Cuba, as well as her recommendations for the future of
the U.S.-Cuba relationship.OUR DINNER EVENT: We will have a cocktail
hour from 6-6:45pm followed by a seated dinner beginning no later
than 7pm. Ample time reserved for Q&A. All events taking place in the
Glen Iris Rooms.
SPEAKER: Ambassador Vicki Huddleston served under Presidents Clinton
and George W. Bush as Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
She also served as U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar and Mali. Her report
for the Brookings Institution about normalizing relations with Cuba
was adapted for President Obama's diplomatic opening with Raúl Castro
in 2014. She has written opinion pieces in the New York Times, Miami
Herald, and Washington Post. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
BOOK EXCERPT
[/BOOK%20EXCERPT%3A%20https%3A//www.thedailybeast.com/first-female-us-envoy-to-cuba-couldnt-even-get-a-seat-at-a-baseball-game?ref=scroll]
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK: _Our Woman in Havana_ chronicles the past
several decades of US-Cuba relations from the bird’s-eye view of
State Department veteran and longtime Cuba hand Vicki Huddleston, our
top diplomat in Havana under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.
After the US embassy in Havana was closed in 1961, relations between
the two countries broke off. A thaw came in 1977, with the opening of
a de facto embassy in Havana, the US Interests Section, where
Huddleston would later serve. In her compelling memoir of a diplomat
at work, she tells gripping stories of face-to-face encounters with
Fidel Castro and the initiatives she undertook, like the transistor
radios she furnished to ordinary Cubans. With inside accounts of many
dramatic episodes, like the tumultuous Elián González custody
battle, Huddleston also evokes the charm of the island country, and
her warm affection for the Cuban people.
Uniquely qualified to explain the inner workings of US-Cuba relations,
Huddleston examines the Obama administration's diplomatic opening of
2014, the mysterious “sonic” brain and hearing injuries suffered
by US and Canadian diplomats who were serving in Havana, and the
rescinding of the diplomatic opening under the Trump administration.
Huddleston recounts missed opportunities for détente, and the myths,
misconceptions, and lies that have long pervaded US-Cuba relations.
With Raúl Castro scheduled to step down in 2018, she also peers into
the future, when for the first time in more than six decades no one
named Castro will be Cuba's leader.
_Our Woman in Havana_ is essential reading for everyone interested in
Cuba, including the thousands of Americans visiting the island every
year, observers who study the stormy relationship with our near
neighbor, and policymakers navigating the nuances and challenges of
the US-Cuba relationship.
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18/05/2018 Last update