US-Cuba-Canada Electronic Dialogue  

U.S. sanctions on Cuba have virtually cut Americans off from one of our closest neighbors. The goal of NPF’s US-Cuba-Canada Electronic Dialogue program was to bridge political tensions between the US and Cuban governments in order to build friendships, cooperation, and international understanding between American and Cuban citizens through dialogue. To accomplish this goal, NPF partnered with Proyecto Espirial in Cuba and the Student Exchange Between Cuba and America (SECA) to form the SECA-NPF Online Exchange program. Launched in 2004, this unique program provided university and high school students in the United States, Canada, and Cuba the opportunity to build connections, trust, and friendships through dialogue on the Internet.

NPF Fellow, David Mericle designed the SECA-NPF Electronic dialogue website that enabled students to converse on many nonpolitical topics that include education, music, and culture. To build capacity in Cuba for a sustained dialogue, NPF donated a number of computers to a student computer lab in Old Havana. While operating this program, NPF faced a few practical challenges. For example, of the five computers donated, one was lost in transit. Additionally, the Internet in Cuba is expensive and slow, making it very difficult for the Cuban students to participate in large numbers. NPF is currently in dialogue with our Cuban partners to find solutions to these problems.

Although the program has met such difficulties, NPF still continues to be encouraged, not only by the success of the program, but also by the positive responses they have received from both ends. The SECA-NPF Electronic dialogue was an important step towards achieving NPF’s goals of forging friendships, sharing democratic ideas, and building peace through exchange with their Cuban counterparts.