In Cuba with Former Denver Mayor Guillermo Vidal
A forthcoming CU News Corps documentarywill tell the life story of formerDenver mayor Guillermo “Bill” Vidal,who fled Cuba as a boy and is now tryingto define his role in the modernization ofthe economically isolated island nation.
Call Me Guillermo will follow Vidal fromhis Cuban boyhood through his six-monthmayoralty in 2011 and into his currentquest, which takes place as tourism andbusiness ties between the U.S. and thecommunist Caribbean country multiply.
“It’s about Guillermo Vidal’s amazing story,his life so far, and what that last chaptermight include,” said Jeff Browne, the CUBoulder journalism instructor who directsNews Corps, an explanatory reportingproject of the College of Media, Communicationand Information (CMCI). “He wantsto help rebuild Cuba — or build Cuba, asthe case may be. What sort of role will hehave in that? And how does his amazingstory inform his ability to do that?”
Vidal, a 1973 CU Denver graduate,became mayor in January 2011, afterJohn Hickenlooper resigned to become governor. Then a deputy mayor, Vidalserved until July 2011, when he becamepresident of the Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce of Metro Denver.
As the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relationsaccelerated this year, culminating inPresident Obama’s historic March visit,the CU News Corps team was huntingfor a story that would bring it to life forColorado residents. Michelle Fulcher(Jour’78), a former Denver Post editor thenworking as CMCI’s communicationsdirector, suggested Vidal as a subject.
The former mayor, now 65 and livingin Florida, was game. In July a 10-memberteam of students, faculty, staff andalumni traveled to Cuba to film him ashe visited Camagüey, the hometown he’dfled as a boy with his twin brothers, inHavana, where he swam in the Bay ofPigs, and in various places important tohim in his youth.
A trailer for the film is scheduled toair on Channel 6 in October. Negotiationsfor a full broadcast were underwayover the summer.
CU News Corps produces student-driven investigative and explanatorynews of interest to Colorado audienceswith faculty oversight.
The film is loosely based on Vidal’s 2007memoir, Boxing for Cuba: An Immigrant’s Story.
Photo by Ross Taylor