U.S. professor and researcher Lars Schoultz received the award to the academic excellence in the studies about Cuba, delivered at the 31st Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
The award is annually granted by LASA Cuba Section, which has 321 members. Its objective is to encourage the study of issues related to the island from different perspectives. Cuban poet Nancy Morejon received the award last year.
Schoultz carried out Spanish American studies at the University of Sttanford, earned a doctorate in North Carolina, has been assistant and associate professor at the University of Miami of Ohio, was a director at the Institute for North American Studies at the University of North Carolina, and was the president of LASA.
Among his major works are "Human Rights and U.S. Policy Toward Latin America," and what many experts consider a key book for understanding the relationships between the island and the United States is "That Infernal Little Cuban Republic.
The 31st Congress of LASA is being held from May 29 to June 1, with a program of nearly 900 workshops and presentations by scholars from around the world, covering topics such as regional cooperation, religion, gender problems, education, culture, environment, and Science and Technology.
The Cuba Section also recognized the work by a group of academics and former officials of that country and the United States that developed a series of proposals to be submitted to both governments, with the objective of helping to create favorable conditions for the improvement of bilateral relations.
The section, one of the most numerous of LASA, according to the interest Cuba generates among specialists in the region, promotes access to information and academic exchange between the two countries.