Cuba News Series Has UNO Ties
- contact: Sam Petto - University Communications
- phone: 402.554.2704
- email: unonews@unomaha.edu
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OMAHA – It’s rare that a story about Cuba lands on the front page of the Omaha World-Herald. Rarer still, when that happens eight days straight.
Last week, columnist Matt Hansen took readers through the bustling streets and back alleys of the island nation. His stories featured a former “black-market bandit,” the owners of Cuba’s first privately owned design store in nearly 60 years and a couple whose veering paths eventually led them to Omaha. And those are just the first three pieces.
Mavericks can feel a sense of pride reading the series. The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) was key in sending Hansen 1,500 miles southeast of his usual beat.
Not only was the trip funded through the Andy Award endowment at UNO, much of Hansen’s time in Cuba was spent with Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado. After all, traveling to Cuba is old hat to Benjamin-Alvarado; this latest trip was his 29th.
Things just seemed to work out. When Hansen reached out, Benjamin-Alvarado told him he was already planning a trip of his own.
“I said, ‘When are you going?’ He told me he was going in December. I said, ‘I am too.’”
Benjamin-Alvarado said he was happy to help the columnist explore the country.
“I wanted Matt to have context for what he was going to see,” he said.
While in Cuba, Benjamin-Alvarado laid the groundwork for two future trips: one connecting experts from the University of Nebraska Medical Center with Cuban medical professionals, the second taking a group from Humanities Nebraska on a trip coinciding with the Havana Film Festival and Jazz Festival.
“Hopefully it will leave them with something unique, something once in a lifetime,” he said.
While it may be just that for both groups, these trips will be Benjamin-Alvarado’s 30th and 31st.
He first traveled to Cuba in 1992, as he researched a Russian-led effort to build a nuclear power plant on the island. The trip led to his dissertation, an interview on NBC Nightly News and friendships that have lasted years.
Those connections continue to pay off as Benjamin-Alvarado researches the challenges of lifting the trade and financial embargo on Cuba. They also came in useful as he played tour guide to Hansen and photographer Ryan Soderlin.
A special thanks in the World-Herald credits Benjamin-Alvarado with introducing the team to “many of the people, places and things” he has encountered during his prior trips.
“Simply put, this trip wouldn’t have been possible without his selfless assistance,” it reads.