Links between Cuban and US universities continue to develop, despite President Donald Trump pulling back on Barack Obama's drive to improve relations between the nations.
Carlos Eduardo Suarez Ponciano, rector of Cuba’s University of Artemisia, led a delegation to the Southern Arkansas University to sign an agreement on academic exchange in the rotunda of the State Capitol. Trey Berry, president of SAU, claimed it was the first time an Arkansas university had signed such an agreement.
The Cuban delegation spent a week in the US and visited SAU’s new engineering facility as well as the Clinton Library, devoted to the president who is perhaps the most famous living son of Arkansas.
The rector was accompanied by two artists who joined forces with Steven Ochs, SAU’s professor of art, to spend three days working on a mural. This is designed to echo another mural, painted by Professor Ochs and art student Veronica Ramirez during their visit to Artemisia in November 2016.
