Carlos Alzugaray Treto

Early life

Carlos Alzugaray Treto was born in 1943 in Havana, the only child of lawyer Mario Alzugaray Ramos Izquierdo and Conchita Treto Villaverde. His grandfather was the prominent Abogado-Notario (Attorney-Notary), Carlos Martín Alzugaray Lavaggi. He studied at the International Division of Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, from 1959 to 1961, then at the University of Havana from 1961 to 1965.

He earned a bachelor's degree in Diplomacy (1965) and History of Cuba (1989), a master's degree in Contemporary History (1999), and a Ph.D. in Historical Sciences, all from the University of Havana. His Ph.D. dissertation was on the Eisenhower Administration's policy towards the Cuban Revolution 1958–1961. As of 30/06/2014, he is married and has three children and five grandchildren.

Career

Since 1980 he has been on the faculty of the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales Raúl Roa García (ISRI) and an adjunct professor at the University of Havana. His diplomatic postings include: assistant attaché at the Embassy of Cuba in Tokyo (1961–1962); country analyst officer, Directorate for Inter-American Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Relations in Havana (1962–1965); second secretary at the Embassy of Cuba in Sofia, Bulgaria (1965–1970); department head, Balkan Socialist Countries, Socialist Countries Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Havana (1971–1973); secretary of the Cuban delegation, Mixed Intergovernmental Commission for Cuban-Bulgarian Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation in Sophia, Bulgaria (1971); first secretary to the Embassy of Cuba in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1973–1977); consul general of Cuba in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1977–1980); deputy director in charge of the Analysis-Department, North American Affairs Directorate in Havana (1980–1983); minister-counselor to the Embassy of Cuba in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (1983–1987); alternate representative of Cuba to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa (1983–1987); adviser of the Cuban Delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Status of Women in Nairobi, Kenya (1985); deputy rector for research and postgraduate studies at ISRI (1988–1990); adviser for United States and Canadian Affairs to the Deputy Minister for Inter-American Affairs in Havana (1990–1992); adviser to the Minister on Global Political Affairs in Havana (1992–1994); member of the official Cuban delegation which visited Colombia in 1993; member of the United Nations Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA) and coordinator of the group of 20 Cuban observers who participated in this mission to supervise elections in South Africa in April 1995; and Ambassador of Cuba to Belgium and Luxembourg and head of the Cuban Mission to the European Union and Communities in Brussels (1994–1996).

Foreign policy

Since 1980, he has taught courses on Cuban Foreign Policy, History of the United States, U.S. Foreign Policy, Cuba-United States relations, U.S. Policy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin American and Caribbean International Relations, and European Integration at ISRI and the University of Havana. In the late 2000s, he began teaching a course to foreign undergraduate students from American University in Washington, DC. In 1998 and 1999 he was among the professors and teachers who received the national award for outstanding results from the Cuban Teachers & Scientific Workers' Union.

He is a regular lecturer on current international affairs, U.S. history, politics and foreign relations, and European political developments at the National Defense College in Havana. He has lectured in Mexico, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Canada, the United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. He headed the Cuban delegation to the Joint Cuban-Nigerian Academic Dialogue on International Affairs in Havana in 1989. He participates in an academic project coordinated by the Asociación por la Unidad de Nuestra América (AUNA) and is a member of the Greater Caribbean Integration Observatory.

Between March and June 2000 he was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. In 2003, he was denied a visa to enter the United States to speak at the Latin American Studies Association's International Congress.

Publications and papers

His publications include: 'La política de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba durante la Administración Johnson' in 'De Eisenhower a Reagan' (1987); 'La seguridad nacional de Cuba y el diferendo con Estados Unidos' (1988); 'Problems of National Security in the Cuban-U.S. Historic Breach' in 'U.S.-Cuban Relations in the 1990s' (1989); 'Dinámica de la seguridad nacional y regional en la Cuenca del Caribe' (1992); 'Los estudios internacionales en Cuba' co-authored with Professor Roberto González (1994); 'Cuban Security in the Post-Cold War World' in 'Cuba in the International System' (1995); 'Raúl Roa García y la Creación de una Cancillería Revolucionaria 1959-1965' (1996, unpublished manuscript); 'Globalización' (1997); 'De la fruta madura a la ley Helms-Burton' (1991); 'La Asociación de Estados del Caribe (AEC): Un reto para la Unión Europea (UE)' (1997); and 'The Association of Caribbean States: A Challenge for the European Union' (1997).