Category: News & Media

PT Law’s Senior Public Policy Advisor based Coral Gables, Florida, Dr. Andy Gomez, published an op-ed in The Miami Herald earlier this week about one of Cuba’s leading dissident blogger, Ms. Yoani Sanchez.

“For years I have followed Yoani Sánchez’s blog and comments on Twitter. Her writings portray a very accurate picture of the daily life of Cubans on the island. Her stance for freedom of expression has caused her many problems with Cuba’s totalitarian government. Yet she has continued to express her views, openly defying the Castro brothers’ regime,” Dr. Gomez said.

Ms. Sanchez was allowed by the Cuban government to travel outside of Cuba and is scheduled to visit various cities around the world including a stop in April in Miami, Florida. She made some comments in Brazil about five Cuban spies currently serving out prison sentences in the U.S. that resulted in a series of negative media stories.

The Cuban Five were convicted for spying on Cuban-American groups in the United States and the U.S. Government, as well as for their role in shootdown by Cuba’s Air Force of civilian, unarmed planes that resulted in the death of three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident.

Dr. Gomez writes that “Yoani posted on ElNuevoHerald.com that her comments were not properly interpreted. On Twitter, she posted: “I was using irony to express my views that if they’re freed right now, the government would save millions of dollars?.?.?.?If the words I used were not the right ones, I apologize.”

You can read Dr. Gomez’s op-ed at the Miami Herald website.

Jason Poblete, Board Member of the Florida International University (FIU) Washington DC Alumni Association, co-hosted an event for fellow alums in town for the 54th Presidential Inauguration. The guest of honor was FIU Alum Richard Blanco, the inauguration poet.

“It was a pleasure to co-host this event with fellow FIU DC Alumni board members,” Jason Poblete said. “For a political town, inagurations are one of a few exceptions to political banter, a time of renewal and reflection. Even when your from the other political party, you celebrate our country and its institutions. A few days from now, the political discourse will commence anew and both parties will need to deal with many important issues. We hope, in a bipartisan and focused manner,” added Poblete.

FIU alumni from around the country gathered Saturday in Washington, D.C., as part of an historic weekend in the nation’s capital. The guest of honor at the special event organized by the board members of the FIU In D.C. Alumni Chapter and the Office of Governmental Relations. The honored guest was alumnus Richard Blanco ’91, MFA ’97, the inaugural poet for President Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony.

There are over 1,000 FIU alumni living and working the Greater Washington area (including Northern VA., South MD., and Baltimore), and more moving here each year. The FIUinDC Alumni Chapter serves as a gathering place for old and new alumni to get together, share FIU memories, and together begin to build new ones.

You can read more about the FIUinDC inaugural event and view pictures here.  You can also view Blanco delivering his poem at the inauguration ceremony here.

 

 

 

 

PT Law consultant, Dr. Andy Gomez was interviewed by the Voice of Russia on this matter. Dr. Gomez is a leading Cuba expert who has followed this issue for decades. The interview can be listened to in its entirety by following this link.

Dr. Gomez is currently the special assistant for international affairs and a senior fellow at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.

PT Law provides U.S. federal regulatory and business counsel with respect to various subject matter areas, including future U.S.-Cuba relations. Please contact us if you would like additional information on this story or other matters related to U.S.-Cuba policy and political events inside of Cuba. 

Last week Poblete Tamargo’s Jason Poblete was a keynote speaker at a conference in the Peruvian Congress co-hosted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the Second Vice-President of the Peruvian Congress, Congressman Juan Carlos Eguren. Poblete and IRI personnel met in Lima, Peru with Members of the Peruvian Congress and senior staff to discuss the importance of legislative oversight in the American federal system.

The seminar was part of IRI’s ongoing efforts to help foster more representative and transparent and policy-focused practices by political parties as well as a more informed and active citizenry in the Western Hemisphere. This two-day program with Peruvian Members of Congress and parliamentary personnel provided participants the opportunity to discuss how to improve legislative oversight in the Peruvian Congress. 

“The Peruvian Congress has a great pool of talented and dedicated personnel. The Members and staff we met with are eager to keep improving legislative oversight process. We learned a lot and hope our contributions about our experiences in the US Congress will be of use to them,” Poblete said. “Congressman Eguren is a reform leader who is passionate and committed to institutional reform of the Peruvian Congress. We appreciated the opportunity and look forward to the next round,” Poblete added.

For the past two decades, IRI has worked to foster more representative and transparent and policy-focused practices by political parties and a more informed and active citizenry. IRI’s partners in this effort include parties from across the political spectrum and from the national to the local level. You can learn more about IRI’s Western Hemisphere programs in Peru and other countries by visiting their website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poblete Tamargo LLP is a law and public policy firm with offices in Washington, DC and Coral Gables, FL. Attorneys and Public Policy Professionals work collaboratively in various subject matter areas to resolve your matters in the areas of trade security law, international claims law, federal regulatory litigation and federal public policy.

Andy Gomez will be a guest Sunday (12/9/12), at 8:00 p.m. (EST), on CNN Espanol’s “Choques de Opiniones”. Gomez will be discussing the future role of Hispanics in the United States. Hispanics played a key role in the recent Presidential election. As Hispanics continue to grow in numbers, how much influence will they have on public policy at the national level? Directo USA, CNN’s Spanish-language public affairs program, is broadcast daily at 6:00 p.m. (EST) in the United States, Latin America, and Spain.