In Cuba, she was part of the Coordinating Team of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) and worked with Somos Liberación, and the Catholic magazine IXTHYS. A physicist graduated from the University of Havana, she participated in Georgetown University’s Global Competitive Leadership Program. She was resident consultant (2009-2016) and founding director (2016-2019) of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, and is guest columnist of CubaNet Rosa María Payá AcevedoĪ pro-democracy activist who has led civil society activities in Cuba since 2009. Her writings are included in several anthologies she authored Cuba without caudillos: A feminist approach to the 21st century (Princeton: Linden Lane Press, 1994), and is co-author of Dengue: La epidemia secreta de Fidel Castro (Washington DC: CFC, 2000), and Outside Cuba / Fuera de Cuba: Contemporary Cuban Visual Artists (Rutgers and UM, 1989). Fuentes coordinated aid for the Ladies in White (2003) has served as guest panelist for Radio and TV Marti has coordinated women's self-employment and democracy-building projects and has written for 25 years for El Nuevo Herald, Diario Las Americas, Revista Encuentro, Diario de Cuba, and Cubanet.

Founder of Red Feminista Cubana (2003), she is a tireless advocate for women's human rights in Cuba. An expert on race, gender and women's history.

An expert on Cuban exile culture and art, she directed the landmark émigré art and literature project Outside Cuba/Fuera de Cuba (1985-1989) from her post at Rutgers U. Ileana Fuentes was a Pedro Pan Operation unaccompanied minor (1961) holds a BA in History from Fordham University a Certificate in Women's Leadership from the Rutgers University Hispanic Women Leadership Institute and pursued graduate work in education and women studies.

Free Cubzh