Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner flew south last week to reconnect with Caibarien, Cuba and Remedios, Cuba, which were originally established as Sister Cities to Bloomington and Normal in the early 2000s.
Speaking on GLT's Sound Ideas, Renner said he wants to re-establish the sister city relationships that frayed shortly after it was established.
"There could be any number of educational, economic development [and] humanitarian-types of relationships that we have with our sister city," he said.
Renner said he's interested in getting Twin Cities' educational institutions on board with the project.
"Illinois Weslyan University, Illinois State University, Heartland Community College were all interested, they all were signators to this agreement," he said. "And, so, we're talking about educational exchanges. It would be nice to get, obviously, District 87 and Unit 5 involved in this as well."
Renner said he thinks its very important for people in the community to go there and for people from there to come here. He said he visited some agricultural cities outside of Havana and saw people succeed, despite economic hardships in the country. Renner said it's very inspiring.
"We're talking about, definitely, a third world country, but people who band together," he said. "The incredible human spirit, under these impressive conditions, that they're able to not just survive but thrive is just amazing."
Renner said some other opportunities that could result from the partnership include importing Cuban cigars and rum and helping to build relationships for State Farm and Country Financial. He said he plans to work with some of the original people who contributed to the sister city relationships with the Cuban cities to rebuild them.