Daniel Pedreira believes that Miami is a city of rebirth for Cubans seeking freedom, including artists. For several of them, who come from a socialist system that restricts freedom of expression, the PEN Club of Cuban Writers in Exile, of which Pedreira is president, is a reference institution.

He is the youngest president in the history of the organization and the first born in exile. In the city of Miami, where he resides, he is a regular collaborator of the Cuban Institute of Historical Memory against Totalitarianism, and vice president of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press, which monitors human rights violations against communicators and citizens on the island. The son of exiled parents, Pedreira alternates his activism with his work as a professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, where he completed a Ph.D. in Political Science and one of his two Master’s degrees.

He has also dedicated himself to the research and study of Cuban politics during the Republican era. This interest has given rise to titles such as “El Último Constitucional,” about the political development of Emilio “Millo” Ochoa (Aduana Vieja, 2013) and the biography “An Instrument of Peace: The Full-Circled Life of Ambassador Guillermo Belt Ramírez” (Lexington Books, 2019).

Here is my interview with Daniel.

The Miami-based PEN Club dates back to the end of the last century. How did it come about?

The PEN Club of Cuban Writers in Exile is the heir of the PEN Club of Cuba, founded in Havana in 1945.

The one I now preside over was founded in 1997 thanks to the vision of a group of exiled Cuban writers, including Octavio Costa (last president of the PEN Club of Cuba), Ángel Cuadra, Armando de Armas, Indamiro Restano, and Reinaldo Bragado Bretaña.

This PEN center was officially incorporated into the PEN International network at its 64th Congress held that year in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its first president was Ángel Cuadra. Then came Armando Álvarez Bravo, Eduardo Lolo, José Antonio Albertini, and Luis de la Paz.

In your particular case, since when did you join the PEN membership? What made you join its ranks?

I joined PEN in 2017 because, at that time, I already had a published book, this being one of the membership requirements. I have also always admired the work of the PEN Club of Cuban Writers in Exile, particularly the career of its president at the time, Ángel Cuadra.

How many members does the organization have and what spaces does it usually promote in the city of Miami?

Our PEN has almost 60 members. We usually hold our events in public libraries, such as the Westchester Regional Library and the Coral Gables Library. Historically, we also held events at the Koubek Center and at Casa Bacardí, both of which were formerly part of the University of Miami.

As president-elect last year, what are your main projections within the PEN of Cuban Writers in Exile?

As president, I seek to increase the membership of the organization and make it more widely known inside and outside of Miami.

I am also very interested in promoting writing and reading for younger generations. At the same time, I will work to maintain the vision of the founders of our PEN.

Is the International PEN an entity from which you have been able to influence in order to make visible the truth under socialism in Cuba? The literary field, and the arts in general, seem to be taken over by the Left.

We have achieved it. For decades, the International PEN has shown solidarity with Cuban writers in prison and the persecuted in Cuba and around the world.

At different times, different PEN centers adopted Cuban writers in prison. This has been the case for Ernesto Díaz Rodríguez, Ángel Cuadra, and Armando Valladares and, more recently, the narrator Ángel Santiesteban Prats, the prisoner of July 11, 2021 María Cristina Garrido, and the independent Catholic journalist Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces. At the 2022 PEN International Annual Congress held virtually, the PEN Club of Cuban Writers in Exile, supported by the PEN Centers of San Miguel de Allende and Paraguay, achieved the approval of a Resolution by which the organization denounced the repression against the protesters of July 11, 2021 and denounced the decrees implemented by the Cuban dictatorship that restrict freedom of expression.

It has been said that Miami is a kind of “artists’ cemetery” for Cubans who emigrate. From your perspective, is that the reality?

Miami is not an artists’ cemetery, but a great stage for those who suffered the repression of freedom of expression in Cuba.

Since 1959, Miami has been a workshop for countless writers, actors, musicians, painters, photographers, sculptors, and other artists. Although many have left us, their works remain as a legacy to the perseverance and creativity of the Cuban people in exile.

These works are also part of the artistic scene in Miami, but unfortunately tend to be ignored by many. It is the responsibility of the PEN Club of Cuban Writers in Exile and other cultural organizations in exile to promote Cuban art — in all its forms — in Miami and wherever these works are created.