Jorge Luis Romeu: Journalism and Cuba Page redball


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, and additional information in the main section of his web page: https://web.cortland.edu/romeu/

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

Romeu, a past member of International P.E.N. (Miami), is also an active writer and journalist. . His articles, in English and in Spanish, appeared in several American newspapers, as well as in Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish newspapers. You can find links to a selection of Romeu's newspaper articles in Spanish, and in English. He has published essays in the academic journals "La Palabra y El Hombre" and "La Ciencia y el Hombre", of Universidad Veracruzana, and in the academic journal "Carribbean Studies", of Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPI). You can find a list of links to several of 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 also find Posts related to engineering and social themes in his LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorge-luis-romeu-10456626/

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, Captain Andres Rodriguez, of the Cuban State Security Department, ordered a search of Romeu's home and found the manuscripts of said stories. Romeu was arrested, taken to Villa Marista, the siege of the Dept. of State Security, questioned by Lt. Oriol Pino, case officer, and later released on parole "liberado Culpable". He remained in Cuba, under surveillance, 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 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 Local 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 a past Member of the HR Committees of the American Statistical Association (ASA), the National Association of Cuban-American Educators (NACAE), and of ASA's Group "Statisticians Without Borders". Romeu has written many papers about HR problems in Cuba, in international professional conferences and journals, such as Scientists and Universities presented to the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Romeu was main speaker for the Syracuse city celebration of the 500 Years of Columbus trip to The Americas. He has published and presented many papers to the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy ASCE . He has contributed a CHAPTER to the ASA sponsored book on Human Rights, published in 2002, as well as several chapters to books published by the Bildner Center of CUNY. He has articles in Caribbean Studies, a Journal 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. Find a selection of his papers on masonic history. Romeu is past member of the American Lodge of Research and the Western New York Research Lodge, GLNY, 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. He is a retired ASQ Senior Member, with certifications in Reliability and Quality Engineering, and a Chartered Statistician Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Romeu retired Emeritus from the State University of New York in 1998, after fourteen years teaching for the Department of Mathematics of SUNY Cortland.

Romeu worked for sixteen years as Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, of the College of Engineering and Comp.Science, Syracuse University, and currently teaches Industrial Statistics graduate courses as an Adjunct Professor. For seven years, he also taught Management Science courses for the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Utica NY. He is a quality, reliability, and industrial statistics Consultant, and created and directs the Juarez Lincoln Marti Int'l Ed. Project, and the QR&CII Institute.

Updated: October of 2024.