With the Cuba newsletter (Cuba Trade & Investment News, www.cubatradenews.com) I publish I get constant feedback from readers and sources in Cuba and Washington, and occasionally from such far-flung places as San Francisco, Ottawa, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico City, Munich and Moscow. But here, just 265 miles from Havana, I am on a first-name basis with a grand total of two subscribers and maybe three or four sympathizers. Except for the occasional tussle with Florida editors trying to convince me that all readers want is hometown news, sports and the funnies, I rarely have a chance to tell locals what I really care about.

That’s been changing, however. Maybe two years ago, starting with this magazine, local organizations suddenly began to look for my Latin America expertise. Which brings me to the broader phenomenon: The number of groups and individuals dedicated to bringing the world to Southwest Florida is rising by the month.

They include the local chapter of the United Nations Association and its human rights and multilateral diplomacy-oriented talks, and the Sarasota Institute of Lifelong Learning (SILL) and its U.S. foreign policy-centered lecture series. (Don’t miss SILL’s March 5 lecture with the curiosity-triggering title “Why Insurgencies Win,” by Dr. Jeffrey Record of the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College; I am scheduled to talk about one particular Latin American “insurgency,” called ALBA, on March 20).

Then, there’s the Sarasota Sister Cities Association, whose people-to-people programs are starting to move beyond our comfort zone of Canada and Western Europe. The most recent Sister City arrangements with cities in Russia and China provide opportunities to get first-hand experiences in countries on very different wavelengths. Last fall, The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce’s International Business Council celebrated its first anniversary by flying in an excellent presenter about Cuba (we haven’t heard a lot from the IBC recently, though). And there are individuals such as Sarasota real estate financier Peter Bennett who started a private circle of Sarasota-connected movers and shakers that meets once a month to discuss big trends in the world and small steps to improve it, such as micro-lending.

The latest addition is Steve Albee. In January, he launched the Suncoast chapter of the World Affairs Council, a group whose biggest sales point is shoulder-rubbing with invited speakers. When I talked to him in late December, a shortage of dues-paying members from Sarasota-Manatee pushed him to include the entire Tampa Bay area. He changed the name accordingly to Greater Tampa Bay World Affairs Council. But if Albee’s enthusiasm is an indicator, the group is a “go.”

Says Albee: “For me, this is a passion. People here are often so uninformed it hurts. When I was at a cocktail party recently, a lady asked me, ‘Who do you work for?’ I say, ‘Colombia,’ and she looks at me like I work for a drug dealer.”

Albee, a Venice native, started his career as a Sarasota and Manatee chamber executive. Then he spent 25 years outside this area, successively as director of economic development/international marketing of the state of Florida, in charge of the international department of Atlanta’s economic development organization, publisher of the Miami-based South Florida Business Journal, creator and publisher of a biweekly newspaper about international trade, vice president international trade of Miami-Dade’s economic development organization, and as a consultant for the Colombian and Chilean state export promotion organizations, among others. Two years ago, he returned to Venice, and now he is trying to bring his Miami connections to his hometown.

“There are 56 consuls and 13 binational chambers in Miami,” says Albee. “These people have an interest in Florida that goes way beyond Miami. This is an opportunity to provide them a venue.”

One of the more intriguing guests Albee and his WAC chapter plan to bring here April 11 is Charles Intriago. The Miami-based publisher of the Money Laundering Alert newsletter is an expert on Latin American finance, as well as U.S. financial regulations and money laundering enforcement.

What’s driving this surging interest? I can only guess, but it seems that, as our national and regional economy is tanking, we’re suddenly discovering there’s a world beyond the horizon.

To be sure, this eye-opening is not always a pleasant experience. After all, it’s the painful blows to our economy that caused us to open them in the first place. Recession, sick dollar, climate change, loss of influence abroad and rising international competition are relentlessly and painfully punching us out of our American autism. The world is awfully bright, and there are lots of confusing colors. Narcos (drug dealing cartels), Chávez’ Socialism of the 21st Century, the rising rebelliousness of the poor, 15 percent growth rates in state-dominated economies, spicy food we have a hard time digesting—not all of what’s happening beyond our borders may be to your liking.