Mario Juan Valdés Navia, 2023–24; 2024–25; 2025–26

Mario Juan Valdés Navia is a historian, professor and researcher, essayist and web editor specialized in Cuban history, culture and current affairs. He’s worked in higher education, both undergraduate and graduate, in the disciplines of history of Cuba and America, Latin American thought, teaching methodology, and historical and socio-cultural research. He obtained a PhD in Pedagogical Sciences with the thesis: “Integrative strategy of José Martí’s historical thought to the assimilation of historical content in Basic Secondary School” (2003). His research ventures into the history of Cuba and the Sancti Spiritus region, José Martí’s thought, didactics of history, cultural studies and civil society. He has published four books and participated in six others, as well as numerous articles in scientific publications, academic websites and political analysis platforms.

He was historian of the city of Sancti Spiritus (1998–2004) and director of the Provincial Library of Matanzas (2012–17). He has obtained recognition for his essay work, such as honorable mention 2015 and 2017 Social Sciences Award from the magazine Temas, and Foundation Award of the City of Matanzas 2019. In 2011, he was separated from Cuban universities for writing critically about government policies and prevented from continuing his research since 2021. In 2023, he received a fellowship from the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) as an at-risk scholar and was accepted as a visiting professor in the Department of Romance Studies at Duke University, and a research associate at the National Humanities Center. Currently, he researches about the counterpoint between civilism and militarism in the history of Cuba, with emphasis on the so-called “revolution in power.” 

Selected Publications

• Valdés Navia, Mario. “The Indomitable Cuban Civil Society”. Cuba Próxima, October 6, 2024.
• Valdés Navia, Mario. “El grito de los obstinados vs. el inxilio ciudadano.” In Cuba 11J: Perspectivas contrahegemónicas de las protestas sociales, edited by Alexander Hall, 101–8. Barcelona-La Habana: Marx21.net, 2023.
• Valdés Navia, Mario. “José Martí Against the Spaniard Apoliticism and the Racist Segregation in Tampa and Cayo Hueso (1891–1895).” Yearbook of the Jose Marti Study Center 44 (2021): 115–35.
• Valdés Navia, Mario. Fernando Lles y el Grupo Minorista de Matanzas. Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Matanzas, 2020.
• Valdés Navia, Mario. El Manto del Rey: Aproximaciones Culturales a la Economía Cubana. Matanzas, Cuba: Editorial Matanzas, 2020.