when carleton university knocked my door

all the conversations i had with my friend franky in the lonely, boring town of caimito del guayabal are truly unforgettable. but there was one i recall with a mix of surprise and excitement that was about a friend of him who lived in punta brava, "a guy that used to speak more than you did" - i quote franky' s saying - who was about to enroll in a graduate academic program sponsored by "some canadian" institution in the faculty of economics of the havana university, program that i confess i had never heard of. that news really shocked me because up to that time i had been attending several graduate courses in the same faculty where carleton university - canada's capital university - had been also delivering its ma program in economics in front of my own nouse and for three consecutive years. as i was told later, that program was due to a five-year agreement signed by both carleton and its havana counterpart. i can also remember that the conversation with franky took place in the second quarter of 1997.

(picture of my class. from left to right, osmel, yaimi, raysa, landa, belkis, baly, alina, paul, esteban, eileen, alexis and arch. in front: ricardo mansilla, adrian with my son mauri and me. guabano beach, february 1998)

many things happened since then; some disturbing but mostly good and funny. there were two special moments related to this program that come up to my mind now.

the first one was during arch's economic of development course. the evaluation method selected by our adviser was a mix of a written essay, with a previous presentation of it, and a final exam. during my presentation (indeed i must say ours because it was an eight-handed delivered show) a stranger arrived in the classroom. she was a member of the communist party of the faculty and showed up herself as such. we proceeded as usual while some confrontation arouse between that woman and our group. at the end of the exchange with the konsomol delegate we stood up and defended our position that what cuba really needs is a radical transformation towards a market economy and a democratic system. it was too much for someone within the "gear". the woman angrily left the classroom.

in the following day, before the beginning of our class, mrs. nélida ganzedo, by the time the head of the macroeconomics department, called for adrian and me for an urgent meeting in her office. that "gray" woman started speaking in an irritating, slowly and softly way on the importance of the program, while emphasized the interest of some sectors in the university to dismantle it. as time went by she was getting angry, her mood turned acid and reached to her climax when she tried to intimidate us with that old fashioned, stupid phrase that the university belongs and is reserved exclusively for the revolutionary people. in that pretty moment my colleague and friend adrian interrupted her abruptly with a firm, sound response of "please, don't offend me. i am a counterrevolutionary. how dare you offend me by calling me a revolutionary. i have struggled too much for not being labelled as such". after that, i thought mrs. ganzedo collapsed. the episode ended in our favor and the final image i got from that event was that of how some cuban faculty members were running and asking adrian not to resign and quit the program in case he felt his right to free speech was banned. i also remember arch ritter strongly supporting us while visibly angry: "if they threaten you and intent to force you to stop free-speaking, i will shut down this program". and then he added: "this is not a class of the communist cuban party; this is a carleton university class".

the second one was during a symposium organized by carleton university in havana which marked the official closure of that wonderful program. the symposium took place in the ambassadors room of the former havana hilton hotel. in that event i made a presentation about the cuban software industry that became, a couple of years later and with some editing work, my modest contribution to a book arch was preparing by that time. that book was published by pittsburgh university press with the title the cuban economy, edited by archibald ritter. as some of us have taken part in the episode with mrs. ganzedo (a true precendent), i was almost sure that some agents of the communist party and/or the faculty would be attending my presentation in the symposium. our names were still resounding in their heads. and i was right. just before i started my speech, i saw the dean of the faculty of economics sneaking into the conference room and joining other member of the department who were introduced to our class as both member of the department and of the local communist party cell.

there weren't interruptions during my presentation except for clapping, joking or laughing. but i did know that some words i just said would be considered insulting remarks to the cuban political apparatus representatives. once i ended, people started to applaud and i was congratulated by many of the attendees, specially by my former professors nicky rowe, larry willmore and my friend arch ritter, who formally invited me to collaborate with him in the book. but also some others showed up and approached. i specially remember the dean of the faculty whom with a threatening tone tried to make me change and retreat of what i'd just said. "it was a matter of perspective", i said to her, while economist felipe jimenez of eclac, who was also invited to the symposium, congratulated me in her face with emotion. she just slipped away. at the end, it was part of the same comedy we have lived for so many decades.

most of the faculty who taught along the five-year program came directly from carleton's department of economics. among them, arch ritter (who was also the adviser of the project), nicholas rowe, keith acheson, simon power, etc. were also invited to teach in the program larry willmore from the un headquarters, in new york city; gary mc mahon, a former world bank economist, from washington dc; michael mortimore, jorge katz, joseph ramos, felipe jimenez and juan carlos lerda, from eclac, in santiago de chile; josé maria fanelli and mario damill from cedes, in buenos aires; and some others i can't remember right now.

i made some followings to the program. with the advise of arch, and the collaboration of other alumni, i tried to found a cuban branch of the carleton university alumni association. unfortunately, we did not make it and the initiative got frozen.

this is my modest recognition and my tribute to those who were involved, worked for and helped succeeding this important academic program during its lifetime; a true breakthrough in our careers, i might add.

for all of you, guys, friends and faculty, who have made possible that it happened, many thanks.

a collection of pictures and some of the stars:




raysa with her toddler.









adrian smoking a cigar during his free-walk over the guanabo hills.






in the aftermath of the econometrics exam, during a lunch in the "casa de la FEU". i made the arrangement for this lunch. simon power was the man of the money. from left to right: raysa, luis and ernesto landa.


in the hills of guanabo beach. from left to right: my wife silvia, raysa, my children mauricio and maria josé, held by yaimi, alberto baly and ernesto landa.







mathematician ricardo mansilla with my wife silvia and my kids mauri and majo.







during the first symposium on cuban economy organized by carleton university. from left to right: felipe jimenez and gary mc mahon (back), jorge mario egozcue and arch ritter (front). havana. february, 2002.




during the same symposium. from left to right: luis (back), jorge mario and arch. havana. february, 2002.





another from the symposium. from left to right: luis (me), jorge mario and nick rowe. havana. february, 2002.