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Tonight, I had the honor, along with Claudia Fanelli, to interview Dr. Antonio de la Cova, author of The Moncada Attack: Birth of the Cuban Revolution and Cuban Confederate Colonel: The Life of Ambrosio Jose Gonzales, as well as professor of Latino studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. The subject matter was Cuban history.

Why a podcast on Cuban history? First of all, thank you Dr. de la Cova for taking the time to speak to us on Cuban history, about which, we Americans, including myself, don’t know nearly enough. I was at a technical conference this past December in Miami where I became friends with a fellow from Texas. A conversation that started off about computer programming eventually turned to Cuba and Cubans in America. I answered his questions as best I could, but felt my explanations only scratched the surface, that I needed to delve deeper into my native land’s history, something I’ve wanted to do for years, but have never taken the time to do. We all lead very busy lives. History is just not an immediately pressing matter, but nonetheless, extremely important, for those who don’t know their own history are doomed to repeat it. A podcast is a very convenient way to fit information into our daily lives that otherwise we would likely never get around to giving our attention.

That’s the rationale for the podcast. Here are some of the questions I asked Dr. de la Cova.

1. As I understand it, some time between 1906 and 1959, Cubans had a republic, but we were obviously unable to keep it. How long did this the republic last? Why couldn’t we keep it?
2. Had Jose Marti survived the war, could he have played the George Washington figure Cuba sorely needed?
3. The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba all got their independence with the same war. How and why did their histories’ diverge?
4. How do you think Cuban history would have turned out had the British kept it?

You can listen to his answers and much more here. Thank you once again Dr. de la Cova for being gracious enough to indulge our curiosity, and even to answer a few speculative, counterfactual, what-if questions. Thank you Claudia for the opportunity once more to co-host Blogging For Libertad. Dr. de la Cova is a treasure trove of information. I learned a lot.