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Cuban Research Institute (CRI)

Website:

cri.fiu.edu/
Type:

Research Organization
Project of:

Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs.
Formation:

1991
Interim Director:

Sebastian A. Arcos

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The Cuban Research Institute (CRI) is a research and teaching institute within Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. 1

It promotes centrist views of U.S.-Cuban relations while hosting events and operating programs that critical of both U.S and Cuban government policy. 2 3

Background

Florida International University claims to have the largest population of Cuban-American undergraduate students and Cuban-American professors in the United States. 1

The Cuban Research Institute is located on FIU’s campus in Miami. In 2020, it announced the completion of a $25.6 million capital campaign to construct “CasaCuba,” a cultural and educational center on the campus that will also serve as CRI’s headquarters. 4 The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities are among the project’s funders. 4

The CRI has operated a “Tech for Cuba” program that collects used laptops, phones, USB drives and other accessories from FIU students and delivers them to young people in Cuba. 5

The university’s annual “FIU Cuba Poll” of public opinion among South Florida’s Cuban-American community is performed by CRI researchers and is considered an important window into that community’s opinions. In 2024, the FIU Cuba Poll found that approximately 68 percent of the Cuban-American community in South Florida planned to vote for former President Donald Trump, thanks in part to his support for a more confrontational, anti-regime policy toward Cuba’s government. 6

Activities

Opposition to 2006 Florida Anti-Terrorism Law

In 2006, Cuban Research Institute professors and other FIU academics opposed a Florida state law that forbade state universities from sponsoring or funding travel to countries determined to be “State Sponsors of Terrorism” by the U.S. Department of State. 2 At the time, Cuba was on this list, which prevented CRI scholars and students from traveling to the country in university programs. 2

The FIU Faculty Senate sued to overturn the law, but was unsuccessful. 7 In 2015, the Obama administration removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and CRI students and academics resumed travel to the island until 2021, when the first Trump administration returned Cuba to the list over its failure to extradite accused Colombian terrorists. 8

2023 Refuge for Cuban Academics

In 2023, the Cuban Research Institute announced it would be providing “temporary academic refuge” to Cuban artists, writers, academics, and journalists who faced threats to their lives or freedom for criticizing the Cuban government. 3 The program, which was funded by a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is known as the Mellon Fellowship for Threatened Cuban Scholars, will pay relocation expenses to the United States for up to 12 Cuban fellows and their family members over a three-year period. 3

As of 2024, program fellows include multiple visual artists, a poet, an anthropologist, an art historian, and a journalist. 9

The program has faced challenges with securing American immigration approvals, which has left some potential participants unable to leave Cuba. 9 In 2024, Cuban academic and activist Omara Ruiz Urquiola criticized CRI’s leadership for what she characterized as mismanagement and lack of transparency in their failure to secure her legal immigration status to the United States. 10

2022 “Cuban Privilege” Event

In 2022, the Cuban Research Institute faced criticism in Miami’s Cuban community for holding an event with Boston University professor Susan Eva Eckstein to discuss her book Cuban Privilege: The Making of Immigrant Inequality in America, which criticized American immigration policy toward Cuban refugees. 11 Eckstein argued that many Cubans leaving Cuba in the early days of the Fidel Castro regime were “imagined” refugees who were making a lifestyle decision rather than truly in fear for their lives or well-being, which sparked criticism from Cuban-Americans whose families had been threatened by the communist Cuban government. 12

Funding

The Cuban Research Institute is funded by Florida International University, as well as by major foundations and government grants. It claims to have raised more than $3.4 million from non-governmental sources since its founding in 1991. 13

It has received grants from the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Christopher Reynolds Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Rockefeller Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Tinker Foundation, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation. 1

References

  1. “About.” FIU Cuban Research Institute. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://cri.fiu.edu/about/index.html.
  2. Fernandez, Crystal. “Florida Board of Governors: Board Joins Fight Over Travel Ban.” PantherNOW, January 22, 2008. https://panthernow.com/2008/01/22/florida-board-of-governors-board-joins-fight-over-travel-ban/.
  3. Baro, Madeline. “FIU’s Cuban Research Institute to Provide Temporary Safe Haven to Threatened Scholars from Cuba.” FIU News, January 13, 2023. https://news.fiu.edu/2023/fius-cuban-research-institute-to-provide-temporary-safe-haven-to-threatened-scholars-from-cuba.
  4. García, Beatriz. “Casacuba, the Future Colossal Center of Cuban Culture in Miami.” Al Día News, October 21, 2020. https://aldianews.com/en/culture/heritage-and-history/colossus-cuban-culture.
  5. “Tech for Cuba.” FIU Digital Commons. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cri_events/82/.
  6. Lai, Qing, and Guillermo J. Grenier. “THE 2024 FIU CUBA POLL: HOW CUBAN AMERICANS IN SOUTH FLORIDA VIEW U.S. POLICIES TOWARDS CUBA, CRITICAL NATIONAL ISSUES AND THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS.” FIU Cuban Research Institute, October 2024. https://cri.fiu.edu/research/fiu-cuba-poll/the-2024-fiu-cuba-poll-report-final.pdf.
  7. Weaver, Jay. “State Higher Ed Board Blocks Opening for University Research Trips to Cuba.” Miami Herald, April 30, 2015. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article19904475.html.
  8. “Chronology of U.S.-Cuba Relations.” FIU Cuban Research Institute. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://cri.fiu.edu/us-cuba-relations/chronology-of-us-cuba-relations/index.html.
  9. Colon, Daniel. “Former FIU Cuban Research Institute Director Responds to Omara Ruiz Urquiola: ‘I Don’t Know Why She’s Attacking Me.’” CubaHeadlines, November 6, 2024. https://www.cubaheadlines.com/articles/291530.
  10. Dominguez, Mia. “U.S. Denies Visa to Cuban Academic Omara Ruiz Urquiola for FIU Scholarship Program.” CubaHeadlines, November 4, 2024. https://www.cubaheadlines.com/articles/291332.
  11. “Cuban Privilege? Fiu Faces Backlash over Hosting Author of New Book.” CBS News, December 7, 2022. https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/cuban-privilege-fiu-faces-backlash-over-hosting-author-of-new-book/.
  12. Padgett, Tim. “FIU’s ‘Cuban Privilege’ Night Was a Typical — and yet a Valuable — Miami Moment | WLRN.” WLRN South Florida, December 15, 2022. https://www.wlrn.org/commentary/2022-12-15/fius-cuban-privilege-night-was-a-typical-and-yet-valuable-miami-moment.
  13. “Major Accomplishments.” FIU Cuban Research Institute. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://cri.fiu.edu/about/major-accomplishments/index.html
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