Ottawa, September 28, 2017. The book Cuba-U.S. Relations: Obama and Beyond, by Canadian author and researcher Arnold August, was launched Wednesday evening at Octopus bookstore in downtown Ottawa.
A panel consisting of Denis Lemelin (Canadian Union of Postal Workers), Don Foreman (Canadian Network on Cuba), Larry Wasslen (Ottawa-Cuba Connections), and the author gave the public an in-depth look at this exhaustive study of the history of relations between the Caribbean island and its powerful neighbor, leading up to the events of December 17, 2014, when diplomatic relations were restored.
Giuvel Orozco, Counsellor and Second Head of the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Ottawa, thanked Arnold August for more than two decades of work on behalf of the Cuban Revolution, emphasizing the author’s generous gesture of donating the profits from the Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal book launches to the victims of Hurricane Irma in Cuba.
Among the guests was Wilmer Barrientos, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Canada, who discussed the situation currently being experienced by his country as well as the U.S. harassment suffered by both Venezuela and Cuba for having opted to take their peoples’ fate in hand.
This is the third book in August’s long career, which has involved frequent travel to Cuba over the past twenty years with a view to conducting his research. In recognition of his unending efforts to publicize the realities of Cuba, Arnold August was awarded the Medal of Friendship by the Instituto Cubano de Amistad con Los Pueblos (ICAP) last July.
Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Ottawa