Mural closes weeklong Cubafest

In celebration of Cubafest, IU students and faculty gathered Friday at La Casa, IU's Latino Cultural Center, to create a community mural project.\n"We had quite a turn out," said graduate student John Morriberon. \nThe mural -- depicting a bridge connecting the state of Indiana and the country of Cuba -- was painted onto a white canvas with flowers and colorful handprints. The focus of the mural reflected the theme of Cubafest, "Building Bridges to Cuban People."\nWhile Cubafest included a week of parties and presentations, the mural added a community project to the package, said sophomore Jessica Hernandez, who began Cubafest three years ago.\n"We wanted to give something back to the community during our week of celebration," Hernandez said.\nHernandez and other members of The Latino Enhancement Cooperative look forward to going to Cuba in January. They will be traveling to Santa Clara, Bloomington's sister city, where the Universidad Central de Villa Clara is located. The mural will be presented to show unity with the university. Members say the trip is a fitting way to bridge the sister cities.\n"What better way is there to end Cubafest than to go to Cuba?" Hernandez said.\nBloomington and Santa Clara are involved in CUBAmistad, a project to encourage dialogue and understanding between the citizens of Cuba and the United States.\nAlthough the two cities are very different, they do have things in common. Santa Clara, like Bloomington, is home to a major university. Universidad Central de Villa Clara is one of Cuba's largest universities. In addition the INPUD factory, the largest producer of domestic appliances is located in Santa Clara, similar to Westinghouse Electric Co. in Bloomington. Also, like Bloomington, Santa Clara is surrounded by stone quarries. \nSenior Andrea Stumpf, who is in charge of Cubafest's public relations, said she was glad to see a high level of participation from students.\n"People have enjoyed this celebration," she said. "Every Cubafest event has been a success and one of the largest turn outs we have had since Cubafest began."\nHernandez is thankful for the incredible amount of support from students and faculty. More than 900 people attended Cubafest events during the week.\n"This year's Cubafest has been one of the biggest multicultural events held here at (IU) and we promise it will be even more fantastic next year," Hernandez said.