1993-2000

In 1958, the United States imposed a trade embargo against Cuba. The embargo served its purpose, and as a result, a cultural misunderstanding and trade shortcoming emerged between the U.S. and the Caribbean island. Certain communities found Cuba to be a valuable source of cultural and economic charm and have since began developing connections with the country.

1993

The Society Mobile-La Havana was founded to promote a better understanding between Cuba and America, to solve problems in health, education and arts and to encourage good relations between the people of Havana and Mobile. Their first year accomplished humanitarian aid, cultural exchange and educational dialogue.

August

The Society hosted the Cuban Ecumenical Choir, Shalom, who performed at several religious sites across Mobile, including Spring Hill College and Dauphin Way Methodist Church.

September

The efforts of the Society Mobile-La Havana were recognized by the Mobile Sister Cities Federation and Sister Cities International, agreeing that the Society’s intentions to promote justice, democracy and good relations with the people of Havana aligned with their purpose.

November

The society sponsored its first booth at the Mobile International Festival replete with Cuban food, music and cultural flare. In all the subsequent years, the society prepares the Cuban booth and carries the flag in the ceremonial parade of flags.

1994

March

Jay Higginbotham testified before the U.S. House of Representatives in support of a bill to end the U.S.-Cuba trade embargo, as it impedes agricultural and economic advances in not only Alabama, but rural states at large.

The Society sponsored its fourth delegation to Havana. Twenty-five delegates visited hospitals and public agencies, while medical professionals collaborated with Cuban medical colleges and clinics in treatment advisement, teaching or lecturing. At the end of the trip, the Society presented several symbolic gifts, one being a sculpture from Mobile’s foremost artist, Casey Downing.

September

The Society initiated an art exchange program between Dunbar Magnet School and a Havana elementary school. The works of Mobile’s young artists were exhibited in the Havana Museum of Cuba throughout the academic year.

1995

February

The Society continued cultural and educational dialogue by sponsoring a visit by Havana’s chief city planner, Jorge Carlos Betancourt. He was given an office in the Mobile Municipal Archives for three months were he studied the traffic, sewage and drainage, and other aspects of Mobile’s infrastructure in order to influence the similar city of Havana. At the end of his three-month stay, Betancourt was made an honorary citizen of Mobile.

1996

In order to modernize medical treatment and procedures in their respective areas, Dr. Bert Eichold, Director of Public Health, hosted Cuban counterparts, Dr. Lorenzo Somarriba Lopez and Dr. Jose L Fernandez Montequin to tour medical facilities around Mobile.

Society members were instrumental in starting the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association (USCSCA), a group responsible for the development of Cuban sister cities throughout the U.S. In the wake of the Helms/Burton Act of 1996, the USCSCA vocalized American support of connections between Cuba for trade, tourism and familial ties.

1997

The Fantasea traveled ninety miles from Key West to Cuba, carrying medicine to distribute to hospitals and medical personnel. The traveling delegates met with the International Relations Department, participated in carnival parades and visited several religious destinations. A successful trip that resulted in eleven more over the next three years.

1999

The Society was officially declared a 501c(3) by the IRS, meaning that they could act fully as a nonprofit with the primary purpose to “establish, promote and foster a spirit of friendship and closer ties between the city of Mobile, Alabama and Havana, Cuba.”

In the midst of tighter restrictions between Cuba and America, several Society members began publishing and giving speeches to advocate for an ease of restrictions.

Bob Schaefer, published “The Cuban Myth” in the Insight Section of the Mobile Press Register in January, followed by Dom Soto’s article on the Society Mobile-La Havana in Business Alabama magazine in April.

2000

March

The chief medical institutions of the two cities— the USA Medical Center and the Havana Health System Provincial Department— agreed to cooperate on medical projects and student-physician exchanges in order to pursue an equal exchange of knowledge and development of programs. In addition, they both pledged to share in environmental protection initiatives, such as waste and water treatment and harbor sanitation.