California State University, NorthridgeCalifornia State University, Northridge
November 15, 1996
Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
(818) 677-2130
cchandler@exec.csun.edu
The film will be shown at 2 p.m. in the University Club, on the southeast corner of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.
Nava, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from 1979 to 1981, made several trips to Cuba earlier this year to document the life of the average Cuban.
"Voices of Cuba Today" chronicles the hardships faced by poor Cubans who cannot afford to buy toothpaste or milk to children and hospitals that lack such basic equipment as thermometers.
Nava's documentary also examines the direction in which he believes future US and Cuban relations should proceed. He argues that the time has come to remove the US embargo on Cuba.
The Cuban people, he notes, resent what they see as dated imperialist attitudes in the United States. "The best way to weaken Castro's hold on Cuba is to be friendly and trade normally, as we have done with the Soviets, the Chinese and now the Vietnamese," he said.
Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Nava received his doctorate from Harvard in 1955. In 1967 he became the first Latino to hold a chair on the Los Angeles School Board. In 1993 he ran for mayor of Los Angeles. He has taught at Cal State Northridge for nearly 40 years.
For more information about the screening, call the History Department at (818) 677-3566.