Near the end of May this year, Tulane PhD students Jesús Ruiz, Handy Acosta, and Boris Martin presented research papers at the Latin American Studies Association annual meeting in Barcelona, Spain, which broke records for attendance. Ruiz's paper, "Hijos de una propia especie: Free People of Color, Spanish Enlightenment, and the Entwined Frontier of Hispaniola on the Eve of the Haitian Revolution" drew many audience questions and considerable commentary from program chair Prof. Ernesto Bassi of Cornell University. In a panel on Latin American Environmental history chaired by Prof. Kris Lane, Handy Acosta delivered the paper "Cobreros y Carboneros: The Environmental Impact of the Santiago del Prado Copper Mines, 1541-1768." He was followed by Boris Martin, whose paper was entitled "Política, banano y medioambiente en Cuba." Both papers received ample comments from renowned Cuban environmental historian Reinaldo Funes Monzote and many questions from the packed audience. Viva la historia! Bravo!