18 December 2014

I awoke this morning having had the oddest dream, that the Presidents of Cuba and the US had spent an hour on the phone and decided to normalize relations between the nations. Then I remembered that it actually happened. Most of us have been waiting a lifetime for this joyous event to occur.

Many of us had expected Pres. Obama to make some gesture of change prior to the upcoming Summit of the Americas, but it is fair to say few of us expected the breadth of actions that were taken. To his credit, the President decided not to take half steps. He just “Did It”, or in the words of Matt Cooper of Newsweek, “finally ended the Cold War”.

It will take weeks and months for events to unfold in both countries, and we will need time to evaluate real opportunities for change. However, any way you look at it, the future seems extraordinarily bright and opens up many exciting possibilities.

Fortunately, we at the “Socially Responsible Enterprise and Local Development in Cuba ” project have been at work for 6 years with international colleagues in locating a strong network of Cuban counterpart institutions and individuals. We look to this group of Cuban social economy leaders to guide us in providing resources that will help Cuba retain the achievements of the revolution while bringing the economy into the realm of 21st century sustainability.

I will keep you posted on important developments in our world of socially responsible enterprise engagement, something often overlooked in the mainstream media.  For now, below you will find two useful links that outline the actions taken by the US government.

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Summary Prepared by New York Times: [http://nyti.ms/1uUi2Qa]
Official US Government Publication: [http://wh.gov/ircvN]
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Eric Leenson, President
*SOL² ECONOMICS*
Responsible Enterprise *SOL*utions and *SOL*idarity in the Americas
http://www.soleconomics.com