Jorge Luis Romeu: Journalism and Cuba Page

Jorge Luis Romeu is a Cuban ex-patriate, deeply involved in International Education, in Cuban issues and in Journalism.

As an International Educator, Romeu created and directs the Juarez-Lincoln-Marti International Education Project. You can find a selection of links to Romeu's Educational articles,

Romeu has also written many papers about the history of, and a peaceful Transition, in Cuba. You can find a selection of links to Romeu's scholarly work in international conferences, and additional information in the main section of his web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/

Romeu is also an active journalist. He is a past member of International P.E.N. (Miami). His articles, in English and in Spanish, appeared in American newspapers, as well as in Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish newspapers. You can find a selection of links to Romeu's newspaper articles in: Spanish, and in English. You can also find a list of links to his essays and research papers about Cuban issues. You can find additional information in the main section of his web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/

You can also find a Galery, with a selection of xeroxes of his published articles, in: English-1 and English-2, as well as in: Spanish-1. and in Spanish-2, and a selection of xeroxes of Las Palmas newsletters, a Hispanic club he founded in 1982, in Syracuse, NY. You can find additional information in the main section of his web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/

Romeu was expelled (Depurado) from the CUJAE, University of Havana, in a public meeting, on May of 1965, and thence sent to the UMAP labor camps, special units of the Cuban military service, between 1966 and 1968. Out of this experience Romeu wrote a short story book, in Spanish, under his father's Pen Name, Beltran de Quiros. Said short stories were sent to his sister Raquel, in the US, seemingly as family letters, by ordinary mail.

The book, Los Unos, Los Otros y El Seibo, was then published in the United States by Ediciones Universal, Miami, in 1971, while Romeu was still living in Cuba, receiving good reviews.

In August 1979, the Cuban Security searched Romeu's home and found the manuscripts of said stories. Romeu was detained, questioned, and released "liberado Culpable". He remained in Cuba until May of 1980, when his sister went for him on a shrimp trawler, during the Mariel Boatlift, a massive naval exodous, triggered by the events of the Peruvian Embassy. The Cuban government decided, instead, to put Romeu and his family on an airplane to Mexico, and they finally went into exile in the United States.

Los Unos, Los Otros y El Seibo's twelve direct, unimpassioned stories, describe life in the UMAP labor camps. It has been assessed by Prof. Seymour Menton, UC Irvine (who was not aware, at the time, that Romeu was still living and writing in Cuba), in his treatise Prose Fiction of the Cuban Revolution (Texas Press, 1975) as one of the two best short story books on the Cuban Revolution, published outside Cuba. Romeu's second story book, La Otra Cara de la Moneda, was also written while living in Cuba, and sent out in a similar way as his first story book. This second book was published in 1984, after Romeu left Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. Its stories describe ordinary life in Cuba, for a young, non-conformist professional, during the 1970s.

Romeu has published several On-Line books on the subject of Cuba and its politics: "Thinking of Cuba", a selection of his newspaper articles published in 1987-92; "Mexico: Seen through Cuban Eyes" and "Optica Cubana de Mexico", two selections of articles about his experiences as a Fulbright in 1994; selection of links to articles publshed in Spanin's "Diario Montanes"; and all his "Mentor" columns, written for Central New York's monthly masonic newspaper "The Word". Romeu has also written two unpublished essays: one is about the Cuban neighborhood of his youth; the other is about the 1970 Peruvian Embassy. events. He has written articles for the University of Puerto Rico's Caribbean Studies journal, most significantly "On Political Intolerance and Cuba's Future.

Romeu's radio and TV journalism activities include hosting the WXTM-TV3 (NBC) public service television talk show Entre Vecinos, that aired between 2002 and 2005 in Chanel 3, Syracuse NY, every third Sunday of the month. The show dealt with Hispanic issues that affected the Syracuse and Central New York area. Romeu also produced and directed the short wave weekly radio program Sobremesa (1994-98) on La Voz del CID, a radio station that broadcasted to Cuba from Central America. Romeu also produced monthly interviews and opinion segments for NPR's Morning Edition at WAER (Syracuse NY public radio; in 1991-92). Romeu was for several years a frequent panelist of Mesa Redonda, a program of Radio Marti, a short wave station that broadcasts to Cuba. Romeu has also appeared in several other CNY radio shows, discussing Cuban and Hispanic issues. You can find additional information in the main section of his web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/

Romeu is involved with Human Rights (HR) activities. He is past Member of the HR Committees of the American Statistical Association and the National Association of Cuban-American Educators (NACAE). He is a member of ASA's Statisticians Without Borders Group. He has written extensively about HR problems in Cuba, presenting papers to AAAS and Amnesty International. Romeu has published many papers on Cuba and, as a Fulbright scholar, also about The Americas, both in national and international professional conferences and journals, and in the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy ASCE . He has contributed a HR-CHAPTER to the ASA sponsored book on Human Rights, published in 2002. He has also contributed chapters to books published by the Bildner Center of CUNY, and articles for Caribbean Studies, of the University of Puerto Rico, also on Cuban issues. You can find additional information in the main section of his web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/

The interested reader can find two key Cuban internal disidents' documents: La Patria es de Todos and the Varela Project in our Web Page

Romeu's writings and thinking have been influenced by the philosophy and teachings of an ancient Institution. He has published extensively about the history of Spanish Caribbean Freemasonry, both in Spanish and in English. Read a selection of his papers on masonic history. Romeu is a member of the American Lodge of Research, GLNY/NYC, of the Jose G. Bloise Lodge of Research, GLSPR/San Juan PR, and the Correspondence Circle of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, UGLE, UK. You can find additional information in his Masonic web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/MasoneriaPage.htm

Romeu holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, is an ASQ Senior Member, with certifications in Reliability and Quality Engineering, and a Chartered Statistician Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Romeu retired from SUNY as Associate Professor Emeritus, in 1998, after fourteen years with the Department of Mathematics of SUNY Cortland.

Romeu worked for sixteen years as Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, L. C. Smith College of Engineering and C.S., Syracuse University, and currently teaches Industrial Statistics graduate courses as Adjunct Professor. He also taught Management Science courses at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Utica NY. He is a quality, reliability, and industrial statistics Consultant.