Photo by Denisse Delgado Vázquez. Image courtesy of ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America
Denisse Delgado Vázquez has successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation in Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She also won the 2024 PhD in Public Policy Book Award at UMass Boston for her academic and professional excellence.
Delgado Vázquez's study compares the remittance behaviors of Cuban migrants in Miami and Madrid, the main destinations for Cuban immigrants. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-method approach, the study explores migrants' motivations for sending remittances, their practices, perceived purposes, and experiences with multiple remittance channels. Data collected through surveys underwent descriptive analysis, visualizations, contingency tables with chi-square tests, and multiple linear regression models. These analyses are triangulated with semistructured interviews with Cuban migrants, key informants, and experts to provide deeper insights into migratory experiences and remittance behaviors. This dissertation broadens the geographic scope of Cuban remittance studies, enriching theoretical and practical understanding of remittance flows within migrant communities. Findings reveal how cultural, economic, and regulatory contexts influence remittance behaviors, offering insights to inform policy development to better support migrants and their families. The study underscores the value of interdisciplinary approaches to create more effective and equitable migration and remittance policies.
Denisse Delgado Vázquez was a Visiting Scholar at the Cuban Research Institute in July-August 2019. She earned a master's degree in social development at the Catholic University of Murcia, Spain, and her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University of Havana. She has had numerous visiting scholarships, fellowships, and academic residencies, including at Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She has published several book chapters and articles in professional journals in the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, and Cuba.
