The Center for Cuban Studies/Cuban Art Space will be hosting a book signing and discussion panel with author Keith Bolender about his new book, Voices from the Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism against Cuba (2010). The presentation and book signing will be held on Thursday, March 24th at 7:30pm. Visitors will also have a chance to see the “Art of Mella” exhibit before it closes on March 31st to give way for the “Pasatiempos” show of rare Cuban poster art in conjunction with the Sí Cuba festival. The center is located at 231 W. 29th Street #401, New York, New York.

Description: Voices from the Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism against Cuba examines the largely unknown history of violence against Cuban citizens since the earliest days of the Revolution through a series of emotional and personal testimonials. Written by Canadian author Keith Bolender, with introduction by Noam Chomsky, the book offers a collection of interviews with dozens of Cubans who have suffered directly from these acts or have had friends or relatives killed. The Cuban government has documented more than 700 incidents of terrorism, resulting in the deaths of 3,500, with thousands more injured. Most have been committed by anti-revolutionary groups originating from the United States, the Cuban side maintains.

Chapters include the Cubana Airlines bombing of Flight 455 in 1976, killing all 73 on board. The two recognized masterminds, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, continue to live in Miami. The bombing remains the second worst act of air terrorism in the Americas, after 9/11. Other topics include biological terrorism, the 1997 bombing campaign against tourist facilities, attacks on villages, the murder of teachers during the literacy campaign and Operation Peter Pan, a program of psychological terror that convinced thousands of Cuban parents to send their children out of Cuba, on their own.

The book also deals with the case of the Cuban Five, government agents sent to Florida to infiltrate various Cuban-American anti-revolutionary organizations accused of carrying out many of the terrorist acts. The Five were uncovered by U.S. authorities and given long prison sentences in a trial that has been condemned by various international personalities and politicians.

Keith Bolender is a freelance journalist living in Toronto and has written extensively on Cuban matters for a variety of North American publications, including the Toronto Star, Florida Sun Sentinel, the Council for Hemispheric Affairs, North American Council on Latin America, Monthly Review, Progresso Weekly and others. He has been involved with Cuban projects for more than 20 years. He is a member of the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) on their roster of experts for Cuban Affairs and Lecturer on the Cuban Revolution at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Education.

For more information on the book, see http://us.macmillan.com/voicesfromtheotherside

For more on this and other events, see http://www.cubaupdate.org/ and http://www.cubanartspace.net/