About Us : Background
Growing internal and external pressures on Cuba’s socio-economic and single-party political model are presenting the island with a number of significant challenges as it continues to confront its post-Cold War circumstances. The strains on the Cuban system are raising concern regarding the future of the island among a range of sectors inside Cuba, the Cuban exile community, and an array of countries with deepened ties to the island, including Canada, which put in place a policy of constructive engagement in 1994, with a goal to support a peaceful transition to democracy. Despite increased linkages between Cuba and the international community since the end of the Cold War, the international community’s understanding of the Cuban reality remains limited, hindering its ability to produce reliable analysis and strategize effectively on the challenges faced by the island. In part due to the difficulty of obtaining verifiable data from inside the island, uncertainty is aggravated by the existence of an extensive and fluid set of actors, within and outside Cuba, with a highly polarized range of perspectives. New information technologies, however, particularly the internet, present growing opportunities to facilitate communication and the exchange of information on Cuba among different sectors, including allowing more Cubans from inside the island to express their perspectives.