Hélio Augusto de Souza Alves is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Florida, where he works with Dr. Lillian Guerra. He earned a B.A. and a Master’s degree in History from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Throughout his academic career, Alves has received several awards and fellowships from national and international agencies, which have enabled him to study and conduct research in Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, and the United States. Alves’ previous research focused on Fidel Castro’s public image and popularity in Cuba between 1952 and 1959 through the use of the press. For his current research project, he analyzes political and economic reforms in Cuba and their effects on society from the 1970s to the 1990s. He also examines the role of the population in advocating for or benefiting from these changes and investigates popular reactions when state reforms diverged from the official narrative. In the summer of 2022, he received a 2022-2023 Goizueta Pre-Prospectus Fellowship to conduct research in the Cuban Heritage Collection.
Hélio is also a member of the following research groups recognized by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq): Group of Latin American Studies; Latin American Reality; and Technology and Digital Humanities.