Reinaldo Arenas

where trip participants chartered a plane to Havana operated by World Atlantic Airlines, an entity previously best known for operating deportation flights for Trump's Department of Homeland Security, and stayed in luxury hotels while praising the regime and its sadism.

What may appear at first as simply more examples of the communist deluxe, as the Cuban writer Ronaldo Arenas once termed the phenomenon, may, however, in fact, be less diffuse and more intentional than it first appears, consisting of overlapping individuals and organizations and an enormous amount of money, its providence often hidden behind layers of charitable anonymity.

Susana Molinet is an independent researcher based in Spain who earlier this year co-authored an investigation for the Cuban exile news site El Toque, titled Red de Apoyo el Autoritarismo, Network of Support for Authoritarianism.

Building upon previous work by the New York Times and New Lines magazine, the report examines how and by whom a great deal of such pro-Cuban government solidarity activity is funded.

[speaking Spanish]

Julian Schnabel's second film, Before Night Falls, chronicles the life of the late poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas.

It is based on the Cuban writer's 1993 memoir of the same name.

The film explores the effects of Castro's Cuba and the determination of one artist under the persecution of a totalitarian regime.

Here is the trailer from the film.

[gentle music]Julian Schnabel is here.

Also, actor Javier Bardem, who stars in the film as Reinaldo Arenas.

I am very pleased to have both of them here to talk about this film.