A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
She was the girl in the house, nice and affectionate. He was the “uncle”, Dad and Mom’s best friends since they were little children, like her. She always ran to greet him. He visited the house on every birthday, on weekends, in the afternoons … Her parents would leave her in the care of the “uncle” so they could run errands. He brought her dolls, candy, cookies. She never understood why he kissed her in the mouth, took off her robe and touched her everywhere when they were alone. He told her it was a secret, as in the tales of princesses. She did not like it; but it was a princess’s secret … He left her half-naked and crying one afternoon when Mom and Dad had not yet returned … She’s barely four years old.
Contrary to the widespread belief of an “unknown stranger,” “distant from our home or affective environment,” events such as the one narrated above are very much our own, close, historical … Social taboos or stigmas –even institutional ones– manage to silence them, but never avoid them, much less eradicate them.
“I worked with cases that came to the Court in 2015 and the first months of 2016,” explains Lisandra León Borrero, whose Master’s Degree thesis in Criminology discussed the “Victim Factors that Promoted Sexual Abuse of Children Under 16 in The Municipality of Cienfuegos in 2015-16: Actions for prevention.” However, the author mentions the existence of other cases still being processed and says there are cases that are never reported.
Researchers say that in our country the most common crimes related to child sexual abuse are lascivious abuses, and the most vulnerable are children between three and ten years of age.
According to the 2013 Cuban Report on “Legal-penal actions against human trafficking and other forms of sexual abuse”, protection was granted to 2,321 girls and boys who had been victims of these acts (1036 of lascivious abuse, 553 of corruption, 365 of rape, 191 of sexual outrage, 57 of pederasty and 29 of rape under 16 years of age). From then to date, the figure has been rising.
“I do not think it has increased,” explains Dr. Diana María Stuart Duarte, child psychiatrist at the Centro de Evaluación, Análisis y Orientación del Menor (CEAOM) [Center for Evaluation, Analysis and Guidance of Minors] in the province. From the very beginning of the history of humankind, abuse has been present. But people have gained confidence, knowledge, and are less afraid. Thus the number of accusations has increased. In fact, many families had their children being victims of sexual abuse and did not disclose it. We are already more open in that regard.”
Other studies reveal that, even with such progress, the reported cases are usually only 10 to 20 percent of the real number .
PREVENTING…
The victimizers, like the victims, have no face, no age, no sex, but “they are almost always close to the family and study their victims, identifying problems of any kind: children who lack affection. And many times the child is mentioning the abuse to the elders and they do not believe it; they take him or her to be a liar. Imagine being in a situation like that,” says Lic. Sara Rey Hernández, a psychologist at CEAOM.
As part of her research, Lisandra León Borrero identified some risk factors that increase the vulnerability of children to this type of abuse. The absence of risk perception on the part of the family is at the top of the list and reveals certain shortcomings of present-day Cuban society.
“Most of the cases under study were dysfunctional families; they did not pay attention to their children; they did not know who they related to; they were not prepared to provide them with adequate sex education; and they were permissive.”
“Another element was the economic factor. In juvenile corruption, for example, when we analyze how the crime is committed –the age, the crime itself—material factors are almost always present. Predators take advantage of those teenagers who wish to have cell phones or tablets, and whose parents cannot give them those goods.”
Master Lisandra Leon Borrero also discusses the social factor with the presence of alcoholism in our communities, and the lack of adequate recreation spaces for the children. “The mother lives on a fifth floor and lets the child play in the street, in a dark place, without supervision,” she added.
Whether in the short or medium term, the aftermath is usually manifested in the child victim. Among the most serious consequences, Dr. Stuart Duarte includes: affective disorders, psycho-somatic problems (physical symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite or gastrointestinal, perception, function or behavioral disorders) or personality disorders, deriving even from substance abuse.
The law, for its part, falls more heavily on those responsible depending on the age, the circumstances of the event, or the significance of the damage. Punishments range from 12 months for lascivious abuse, to 30 years or death for rape, violent pedophilia or corruption of minors when the victim is under twelve years of age.
“In 1991 Cuba ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, our Penal Code shows a certain lack of protection when it comes to considering aggravating factors,” Leon Borrero explains. In civil law here, a person is a minor until he or she is 18; but for punishment in criminal law we speak of a minor until he or she is 16, and in the end, aggravation is only considered when the victim is 14 or younger”.
WHEN THERE IS CONFIRMATION
Although each child may react in different ways to this type of aggression, there are symptoms that would help relatives or friends to detect them.
“Isolation is one of the most common,” says psychiatrist Diana Maria Stuart. Also school rejection, hostility, rebellion, fluctuations in appetite, difficulties in personal relationships … Depression in children and adolescents is not as in us adults: in children, it responds to a manifestation of behavior, rather than to emotional causes…
Behavioral alterations take precedence over emotional ones. The school plays an important role: when a child is being abused his or her academic performance almost always decreases. The child reacts differently: some are not aggressive and at a certain moment they become so; they reject physical contact …”
“It is paramount to maintain close observation of such changes,” stresses psychologist-pedagogue of CEAOM, Lic. Arianna González Fernández. “Sometimes we get cases in which the parents cannot tell us if there is an emotional alteration or not: the child is in school until 5:00 pm, comes home, takes a bath, does homework, eats and goes to bed. In such circumstances, it is the teacher who helps us with a more complete characterization.”
It is difficult to react serenely to the chance of possible abuse of some of the smallest of the house. However, it is essential to take into account some procedural steps for the safety and welfare of the child.
“When the family learns of the abuse, it should address the PNR unit [Policia Nacional Revolucionaria/ National Police] and file a complaint without the presence of the child. The child should not be taken to the unit of the PNR, emphasizes psychologist Sara Rey Hernandez. The child has already told the story to a cousin, an aunt, then to the mother, and then goes to the police station and repeats the story to whoever is there. They may not be the person prepared to explore the child. To work with them is our group of specialists. We must not re-victimize the victim.”
“Nor should parents insist on getting more details. That is our job,” comments González Fernández. “We keep repeating this because that insistence only creates more problems. By the time we get the information, it will already be tainted and the child will give us a narration of what he heard, guessed, imagined… altering the concrete fact.
The specialists interviewed agreed on the fact that, in general, delays in the detection and reporting of abuse persist.
“Speaking in terms of crime, we should not cause alarm either,” suggests Lisandra León Borrero. We should be careful with the subject, because perhaps the child’s symptoms respond to something else and misunderstandings can generate family conflicts.”
“We know that everyday life is difficult, but we must devote time to our children,” emphasizes Stuart Duarte. “Talk to them, play with them. Draw with them. The idea is not to be permissive, but to devote time to them. And have control: boys and girls should have schedules according to their age; parents should know who they play with, where they play … All this is important in the family’s actions to prevent their children from being victims of sexual abuse.”
Stories like that of the girl in our opening paragraph are very close to home, they are our own, historical … And silence does not manage to silence the pain, much less avoid it.
Crimes involving sexual abuse
Violent pederasty: sexual intercourse with men
using violence or intimidation.
Sexual outrage: harassment with sexual demands,
exhibitionism or obscene acts; producing or circulating pornographic materials.
Lewd abuse: to lasciviously abuse a person
of either sex, without the aim of carnal access,
using force or intimidation.
Rape: to have sex with a single woman
older than 12 years and under 16,
using abuse of authority or deception.
Corruption of minors: using minors under 16
in the practice of prostitution or in the practice
of acts of corruption, pornography, or other
dishonest behavior.
Translation by Walter Lippmann.
Harlem Suarez, Cuban-born citizen, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of attempting to blow up a bomb on a Florida beach and providing material support to the Islamic State group, the US Public Prosecutor’s Office reported today.
Judge José Martínez Suárez stated today that Suárez, 25, must spend the rest of his life in prison, as requested by the prosecution, who had considered Monday that this would be a “totally fair and reasonable” punishment for his crimes.
Suarez was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and to an additional 20 years in prison for trying to provide support to a terrorist group, the prosecutor said.
The prosecution presented the recordings of the defendant’s conversations with the FBI undercover officers, in which they spoke of the explosive device.
Suarez, found guilty last January in a Florida Keys court, said during the trial that he had no real intention of blowing up a bomb, that he felt scared and intimidated by the police and that his interest was only to know, out of curiosity, the way in which the EI operates.
From the outset, defense lawyers tried to evade terrorism charges by arguing that their client has mental problems.
Suarez was arrested in mid-2015 by the FBI after being monitored by this entity since April of that year, when they detected that he had made comments of support to the Islamic State on his Facebook account.
According to the complaint, the Cuban met with an undercover FBI informant on multiple occasions with the intention of carrying out an attack in the country on behalf of the IS after publishing a series of violent messages in favor of the terrorist group on Facebook, under the name “Almlak Benítez”
(With information from EFE)
Transcribed by Carla Riehle. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Gail Walker:
I’d like to now ask our brother Miguel Barnet to please come forward and to offer a few words. Distinguished member, leader of UNEAC, the union of writers and artists in Cuba.
Miguel Barnet:
Yes, dear friends and colleagues.
We are very, very happy, first of all to to have you here, and then to hear this message from Gerardo. You know of the five heroes, Gerardo is something very special. You know that. He’s a very talented young man and now very happy with three children, and that means a lot.
It comes to my mind the day that Fidel, in one of his speeches, said, “they will come back” and they are in Cuba now, so that’s something that we have to really recognize, and this is, in a way, something that belongs to you also, because you worked very hard for that occasion.
We Cubans are deeply proud of the solidarity expressed by people around the world to Cuba and particularly to the Cuban revolutionary process. Solidarity is one of the basic principles of the revolution led by Fidel and Raúl. The word solidarity carries the most sensitive feeling of Cubans who live in the island.
We were raised under this concept and it has been a daily practice for all of us. How can we analyze or discuss issues of revolutionary life if we do not take into account what we have done all over the world, not to mention medical aid to poor people, education or political support to countries that have suffered criminal and illegal wars.
Now, I would like to say Latin America has been a priority to us, but also, we have expressed our solidarity in international multi-lateral organizations like the African Union, the UN, UNESCO, the July 26 Coalition, Venceremos Brigade, Pastors for Peace and the recently-created CELAC. Fidel has been the icon of that struggle and he never gave up his principles, regardless of foreign pressure and blackmail. We all learn from him that solidarity is a keyword and a banner of socialism and humanism.
This is the reason why we admire all those people like you who have strengthened ties of friendship and support to our cause. I want to mention here just one name of a person who passed away last year and is definitely a symbol of that solidarity and also a symbol of friendship.
Saul Landau. He never had to say to [inaudible] hold hands together with all Cubans. He is, to me, one of the best examples of what a concrete action of solidarity represents.
I could also mention others: workers, students, intellectuals and ordinary people who massively backed us after the kidnapping of the boy Elián González.
I want to mention also others who always wrote serious articles analyzing the Cuban Revolution, such as Noam Chomsky, James Petras, Arnold August, just to say outstanding examples.
The struggle to free the Five Heroes was likewise a heroic feat where many took risks of persecution and harassment. What fair words can I use for such cooperation and embracing of Cuba and its population. You are anonymous heroes of this huge battle to achieve the goal of a new world that has to wipe up the poison seeds of capitalism and imperialism.
Not all of you, and I know that, are members of any party, maybe social organizations or labor unions, you’re mainly or basically honest people, well-meaning and decent, who have faced risky situations and then in dangerous fields You represent the good Americans, the land of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Lucius Walker, the land of truth and justice. We are conscious that you wish a participative democracy and not one that justifies crimes, corruption and lies.
How can we normalize relations if the embargo is not lifted right away, and the whole world demonstrates this with its vote in the United Nations? That is our biggest aim and I’m sure it is also yours. How can I be happy in this wonderful place, in this wonderful country, in this city, where I have lived and learned so many good things from your cultural heritage, if the embargo is not lifted?
If we can not make sometimes, at least in my case, make calls from my cell phone, I still don’t have roaming [service] to call my friends and especially my grandson in Cuba. I have to ask my colleague who comes with me, the deputy of the writers and artists union. The university’s telephone has roaming, not mine. I don’t know why. It’s a mystery. I think probably I have to buy a new one soon, anyway.
Okay. Why cannot we use dollars in our financial negotiations with Cuban and American banks? Why cannot I receive royalties of my books published in the United States? One of them has eight editions in the United States and I haven’t received a cent. Not one thing. Okay. That’s not important.
Because of the stupid and criminal embargo that we of course mentioned, with the very pointed definition of blockade, which is expressive of our feelings towards this country and ourselves. We’re neighbors, as President Obama declared and John Kerry repeated, upon the raising of the American flag in the new American Embassy in Havana. A neighbor is part of our family and I think we also belong to that family, the family that José Martí in New York called “Our America,” “nuestra America.”
We are also Americans with rumba that, by the way, was recently declared an international, tangible heritage and that’s a great feat also, thanks.
Latin jazz, cigars that still cannot be found in any airport of this country. Why? Isn’t that absurd? Absurdity, as the French philosopher and leader of the French Revolution, Talleyrand, said, is worse than a crime.
Let us shake hands and hugs for heaven’s sake. It’s enough. We need a new and common energy. We are people of peace and friendship.
Dear friends, on behalf of the Cuban writers and artists, and also of the Cuban people that I represent, thank you very, very much for your sincere solidarity that, believe me, has been more important to us than any prayer.
Cuba never will betray the ideas that our leader Fidel taught to us. Those ideas are ready to face all challenges and risks that we come across. This is a battle that we will win to honor his memory and follow his principles. Our national poet and hero, José Martí, who lived in this country for 15 years in the nineteenth century, wrote, “trenches of ideas are stronger than trenches of stone.”
Let us make that statement true always.
Thank you.
Venceremos.
By Manuel E. Yepe
Exclusive for daily POR ESTO! of Mérida, México.
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
“The use of Russian anti-aircraft defense systems by the Syrian army in retaliation to the US missile strike would have provoked a nuclear conflict. That did not come only thanks to the self-control that Vladimir Putin showed as Supreme Commander of Russia”, daily Izvestia daily reported, quoting Sergei Sudakov, member of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation.
“Many Russian citizens believe Russia should have repelled the aggression. But those who think that way ignore that, had this been so, the shoot-down of US missiles would have provoked a scenario of conflict between two nuclear powers in the territory of a third country.” According to Sudakov, Trump placed humanity at the doors of a true “hot war”.
Military analyst Vladislav Shuryguin clarified in Pravda that the Russian air defense systems deployed in Syria defend the interests of Russia, and are under the military command of Russia. Thus, “when Israel or Turkey periodically bomb Syria, we can protect our air base and its facilities.” Shuryguin believes the Russians made a political decision, because the shooting-down of US missiles would have undoubtedly led to a conflict between Russia and the United States.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry denounced the absence of evidence to support the US accusation about the existence of chemical weapons in the Syrian base of Al Shairat which the US used as the pretext to attack that facility.
Press media, firefighters, police and Syrian authorities who went to the base after the US airborne-Tomahawk missile aggression did not find the presence of deposits or bombs with chemical weapons. “People who work there are going about their tasks with total normality; no one is wearing special suits to handle toxic substances,” said Major General Igor Konashenkov, one of the Russian chiefs of the base.
Obviously, observers’ attention was drawn to the similarity between this situation and the white powder shown by Gen. Colin Powell to justify US aggression against Iraq in 2003, or the report to the Parliament of then-British Prime Minister, Anthony Blair, on alleged chemical weapons in that Arab country that same year.
Impartial observers say the United States used the events as a pretext to punish Syria. At the same time, the US attack would delay the defeat of the Islamic State which would consolidate the position of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s legitimate leader.
The Syrian government is calling for the creation of an international committee of professional and independent professional experts to investigate the circumstances which led to the Washington’s attack on Syria. This would be the only legal body capable of verifying whether from that air base chemical weapons could have been used.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] has pointed out that any manipulation or use of toxic substances leaves a trace that can be detected weeks and even months later.
Three years ago, the United Nations verified the total disarmament of chemical weapons in Syria. Therefore, specialized agencies of the world organization would now have to investigate just how the alleged return of this type of weapons to the country took place, and through which border.
All these justifications for the cruise-missile attack on Syria are inconsistent with Donald Trump’s statements during his election campaign. Trump announced that, if elected President, he would oppose the involvement of the nation in international conflicts, something undoubtedly in conflict with the agenda of the real power that governs the empire.
Trump had said he would prioritize the defeat of global terrorism, an objective that also contradicts this attack –which in fact prolongs the existence of the main enemy which he had said the United States should focus on– because, with this attack, he saved the Islamic State from imminent defeat at the hands of the Syrian army.
It has become clear, once again, that the underlying policy of the United States, whoever is President and whichever party is in government, is to prolong wars as much as possible in the interest of profit for the industrial military complex.
Donald Trump clearly is not as absurd as it appears in the performance of his presidency. The thing is that the goals he proclaims are almost never real goals. Sometimes they only express a part of his true objectives, to which he intends to arrive by sleight-of-hand.
Trump’s bravado as president no doubt has its limit there where it surpasses the guidelines fixed by the real power that is not achieved in democratic facade elections.
April 11, 2017.
By Roberto Alfonso Lara
April 5, 2017
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Living a comfortable old age can be the aspiration of anyone in the world. Some even set it as a goal and work hard to achieve it. But this effort at the individual or family level requires socio-economic support. This implies changes in health-care services, transportation, the stores…
For several years, Cuba has given emphasis to policies to protect senior citizens. The irreversible aging of its population has led to a number of transformations, essentially in public health. Other sectors remain oblivious to the challenge. Marketwise, for example, old people are forgotten.
The country´s stores disregard the needs and preferences of the elderly. The sale of clothing, footwear and food without adjustment to their demands, is proof of the low visibility of this age group in commercial matters. When it comes to selling, gray hair is usually not taken into account.
Somehow, I think there is an incomplete perception about the elderly, which doesn’t realize their true potential. A degree of conformism is attributed to them. The limited satisfaction of their urgent needs often follows that premise. It is usually thought that, due to their age, they lack tastes and interests, and that anything will be good for them.
Neither slippers nor pajamas nor “home scrubs” at reasonable prices are to be found in stores. Neither are light fabric clothing, nor shoes with the proper design to cope with corns and bunions, or anything that gratifies or pleases them. They do stumble upon sneakers and high heels, shiny blouses and tight pants.
Domestically-made garments hardly fill the vacuum. The use of textiles inadequate for Cuba’s hot climate (polyester instead of cotton), make the articles on sale of little use. Industry needs, first, to know in detail the type of customer to whom its products are intended. The same happens with prices, which bear no relationship with the very little money pensioners receive.
In terms of marketing, older people are scarcely valued in the country as an economically attractive group. Nevertheless, nations with similar demographic characteristics find in seniors numerous possibilities as consumers. Several specialists have even argued that the future of the market lies in the grandparents.
If in 2025 one in four Cubans will be over 60, wouldn’t it be appropriate to take another look at the issue? The care of the elderly –a strategic issue in the development of the nation– requires the implementation of comprehensive action in pursuit of greater comfort and quality of life.
The construction and repair of nursing homes and grandparents’ homes, along with new geriatrics clinics, anticipate the way forward. The other lap corresponds to the spheres of production and services. These are still permeated with the stereotype that the elderly do not buy enough.
Because of the size of the changes required, it may be difficult to deal with the needs of old age. For Cuba’s weak economy it is, in fact, a problem. However, all the elements should be thought of instead of continuing to postpone possible options. Not only in terms of clothing or food, also in the constant supply of wheelchairs, canes, hearing aids, mattresses, beds…
The government’s own interest in promoting the active participation of senior adults in the socio-economic life of the country clearly speaks of the need for reorienting the compass towards the current demographic process. Consequently, it is a task for the market to review its current situation and expand what’s available. The elderly, like other generations, need to see their reflection own in the mirror.
By Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
April 7, 2017
CubaNews translation by Walter Lippmann.
Recently Donald Trump has begun to show that he is already learning to behave as a true president of the United States. This was shown yesterday, when he ordered that more than fifty Tomahawk missiles be launched against a Syrian air base, under the pretext that the Syrians had used chemical weapons against civilians and opposition troops.
Bashar al-Assad, who was accused of ordering the attack, which was actually launched by the opposition forces themselves, who have been handed over by Turkey. This action in no way benefited the United States’ position in the Syrian conflict, when it was argued that it was no longer a priority of its foreign policy to overthrow Assad.
The true beneficiary of what happened is Israel. It was quick to endorse the attack and encourage an appropriate response from the United States. Trump’s positions have also been strengthened, as he justifies the requested increase in the Pentagon’s budget and allows him to show a strongman image to his Chinese guest, Xi Jimping, with whom he must analyze, among other things, the situation of North Korea’s atomic development.
Among those demanding this type of action is Hillary Clinton, who came out of her lethargy last Tuesday, stating that “the United States ought to bomb Syrian military air bases in response to the apparent chemical attack.” The big American press has commented on the fact, but it has not condemned it. So far, as far as I know, no major popular demonstrations against Trump are being organized for the bombing of the Syrian base.
Of course, we will always find those who want to magnify this situation as another sign of their aversion to Trump and that they are still suffering from Hillary’s defeat. Expressing himself thus was a sign of his ignorance in relation to what the United States represents in the world, what his foreign policy is and how a president of that nation acts. By the way, in Trump’s case, although he deserves to be criticized for bombing the Syrian base, we can say that by comparing this with what was done by Obama, Winner of the Nobel Prize for War, he still reveals himself to be a beginner.
In Afghanistan, where US troops are still found, bombings and other military actions have cost the American taxpayer more than $3 billion, the death of about 2400 military and hundreds of thousands of civilians.
In Iraq, the ongoing military adventure has cost more than $6 billion, 4500 military personnel killed, 33,000 wounded and more than one million Iraqi civilians killed.
In Libya, daily bombings ordered by the binomial Obama-Hillary cost $1.1 billion, in addition to the Libyan military, and killed more than 80,000 civilians. Still, war continues and civilians continue to die.
In Syria, where the Obama administration began its participation in the war on September 10, 2014, activities began precisely by bombing different facilities in the capital and other cities as part of supporting anti-government forces. It is estimated that the bombings have cost about $800 million dollars, in training and logistical support to the rebels $600 million. As a result of the bombings and actions carried out by the rebels, more than 100,000 civilians have died and a large part of the country has been destroyed.
We could say that Trump is still warming up, he started pitching in this inning and he may give a good performance, but to beat pitchers like Obama he needs a lot more experience.
I hope this will help some of our compañeros gain a true understanding of a US president’s way of acting and not be surprised when he orders a bombing of a military base or a coup in Venezuela. That is part of his job.
American actress and film director Jodie Foster is visiting Havana, where she attended an “Acosta Danza” rehearsal this Thursday and held a dialogue with the members of the company founded and directed by Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta.
From the presence of Foster, winner of two Oscars for best actress in 1989 and 1992, at the headquarters of “Acosta Danza” the photos talem posted on the page of the set on Facebook, which she appears with the dancers.
Foster witnessed the rehearsals of “Belles Lettres,” a piece by New York City Ballet’s resident choreographer, Justin Peck. It will be premiered in the upcoming spring season of “Acosta Danza,” scheduled for April 21-23 at the “Alicia Alonso” Gran Theater of Havana.
Peck created Belles-Lettres in 2004 for the NYCB. It became became one of the trump cards of the American choreographer right away.
He was also able to appreciate the preparation for the work “Fauno” by the Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi and the duet “Nosotros” by Cubans Beatriz García and Rafael Reinoso, according to Lester Vila, a spokesman for Cuban dance company .
Jodie Foster, internationally recognized for her roles in films such as “Taxi Driver”, “Silence of the Lambs” and “Panic Room”, now joins a list of US artists. Who have visited Cuba following the approach initiated by Havana and Washington in December 2014 and the diplomatic thaw that took place months later.
Since then, Cuba has become a tourism destination, and has been visited by American film actors such as Robert de Niro, Ethan Hawke and Tim Robbins, and music figures such as Madonna, Katy Perry and Rihanna and the rocker Jon Bon Jovi.
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
A CubaNews translation by Walter Lippmann.
Recently, actress and American film director Jodie Foster was in Cuba. During her visit to Havana, the winner of two Oscars for Best Actress in 1989 and 1992 shared with specialists from the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX).
Dr. Mariela Castro Espín shared her impressions about the meeting with Jodie on Facebook today:
“It was a pleasant surprise that the American actress Jodie Foster showed interest in knowing about our work at Cenesex Cuba, during her recent private visit to the Island with her wife, Alexandra Hedison, and her sons Charles and Kit, with whom we had a beautiful family evening” .
Open to scientific search, exchange of experiences and dialogue of knowledge, CENESEX counts on professionals of recognized prestige from different scientific disciplines who use a comprehensive approach in the study of sexuality.
Foster, whose performances in Taxi Driver, The Silence of the Lambs and Panic Room have always been in the memory of her followers, has now been added to the list of artists of the United States who have visited the Island after the approach initiated by Havana and Washington in December 2014.
Author: Madeleine Sautié | madeleine@granma.cu
May 30, 2016 21:05:48
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Much and much deserved is his notoriety. Among the main epithets he was given was that of being, if not the most, at least one of the most famous poets in the world. For this reason, the International Poetry Festival of Havana (FIPH), which now extends its epilogue to the east of the country, reserved among its events a unique reading by Yevgeni Yevtushenko. It was an occasion when the Casa del Alba Cultural Center in the country’s capital city welcomed him with a new audience that –on more than one occasion– applauded him.
Nominated more than once for the Nobel Prize for Literature, the poet, born in Siberia, Russia, in 1933, is familiar with crowds that gather to listen to him. At the age of 22, his love poetry gave him a popularity that grew with his readings in public spaces. In two occasions 6500 people crowded the Kremlin theater to enjoy his poetry.
In the life of this singular being –unique for his authentic poetry and his peculiar way of dressing– reading has been a common exercise. This time it was one more of his typical expressions. Yevtushenko read his poems for more than 90 minutes and between them he gave his audience those sparks that he usually inserts to even more brighten up his astonishing poetry.
After reading excerpts from his book Dora Franco, written in 2011, “with the permission of its heroine, “the Colombian model who accompanied him during his tour of that country where he arrived in his youth as part of a Latin American poetry tour, Yevtushenko chose, among other poems “The Execution of Stenka Razin”; “In the Country Called More or Less”; and “The Key of the Comandante”, dedicated to Che Guevara.
The reading of The Execution … allowed the public to enjoy the 14 different rhythms he mentioned before starting. This is a song to freedom and the evocation of a just leader who defended the peasants. Claiming to have had the illusion of witnessing the facts described in the epic song, the poet read aloud the text in which he describes the public execution of the hero. With remarkable impetus he reached the concluding verses: On the Tsar’s head/chilled by those devilish eyes/the Cap of Monomakh began to tremble/ and, savagely/not hiding anything of his triumph/Stenka’s head burst out laughing at the Tsar!
The key … served to listen to this man, who claims to be a bearer of a poetry that is “a personal confession put into verses,” from his political stance, which allows him to write with exquisite beauty events such as the death of the Heroic Guerrilla and disapproval of converting his sacred image into merchandise. “We do not know, sir, we do not know …” / Where is the key to the future? / The fear of not finding it, panic grabs us. / But the key is in your hands, / I’m sure. / (…) To the left, / boys, / always to the left / but not to the left / of your heart.
In the Country … one can see the poet’s critical and foresightful gaze against evils that corrode the best political purposes, such as bureaucracy, corruption and opportunism, among other human vices that violate the integrity of character, all expressed with great irony. (I would like to stand in front of God, as I am, / not as someone more or less. / Not being more or less happy / in this more or less life … / In this more or less freedom.
But the poet of the great audiences –whose work has been translated into more than 70 languages– and who stirred so many hearts more than six decades ago with his intense love verses, now at 83 years of age, has still much to tell us about the most universal of feelings.
In the presence of his wife Masha, he read –once again for her– and for all: I Love You More than I Love Nature, a poem with which he begins his book Stolen Apples, recently published by the collection Sur of the FIPH (still available at bookstores).
I love you recklessly / as an abyss, not as a small ravine. / I love you more than all possible, / and also more than all the impossible. He read and everyone could see this other side of the poet: earthly and in love. He continued: I love you more than my homeland / because my Homeland is you. Masha is perhaps the inspiration; but the emotion was shared, because we knew we had witnessed poetry itself.
By Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
March 19, 2017
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
On March 12, 2017, the American journalist Frank Manitzas died.
Among the journalistic assignments he covered were the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and the coup d’état against Salvador Allende, during which his house was assaulted by the gendarmerie under the orders of Pinochet and his family was arrested at gunpoint.
In the year 1980 during the Mariel was in Cuba with Peter Jennings, a presenter of the American television. He made articles on Cuba’s advances in medicine and education, and won several threats against his life.
During his travels in Latin America, he frequently denounced the CIA’s activities against governments and leftist movements.
He was a journalist with a high professionalism, ethics and human feelings.
Dr. Néstor García Iturbe
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Courtesy JB Diederich
BY HOWARD COHEN
Frank Manitzas, a Dupont-Columbia Award-winning journalist who covered the world’s first heart transplant in 1967, Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968, the 1969 moon landing, the Iran hostage crisis in 1979-81, Augusto Pinochet’s coup in Chile in 1973 and the Mariel boatlift in 1980, died Sunday.
Manitzas, who coordinated news coverage for ABC, CBS, NBC and the Associated Press for 40 years, was 85.
“He was my bureau chief at the ABC News bureau in Coral Gables — during the most turbulent times in Latin America,” said ABC News correspondent John Quiñones, host of “What Would You Do?” “I arrived there as a rookie correspondent in 1982 and Frank was my guiding light through all kinds of mayhem in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama.
“Frank was a reporter’s reporter,” Quiñones continued. “He was brash and unrelenting in pursuit of the truth — the kind of journalist who never took ‘no’ for an answer. Time and again, ABC beat all the other competing network producers on the story — whatever it was — because Frank would get there first. He seemed to be everywhere, charming everyone from presidents and diplomats to guerrilla leaders, cab drivers and telephone operators — always in his trademark guayabera and with his warm and engaging Texas drawl. If I ever traveled without him he would yell at me on my out the door, ‘Just tell them Frank Manitzas sent you.’ Sure enough, doors would swing open upon my arrival anywhere from Mexico to Cuba, Brazil and points beyond.”
EVERYONE SEEMED TO KNOW FRANK AND EVERYONE LOVED HIM. AT A TIME WHEN DICTATORS, DEATH SQUADS AND THE CIA WERE WREAKING HAVOC IN LATIN AMERICA, HE WAS THERE, FEARLESSLY SOUNDING THE ALARM AND SHINING THE LIGHT OF JOURNALISM ON THE DARKEST CORNERS OF THE CONTINENT. BY DOING SO, HE LITERALLY MADE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.
ABC News correspondent John Quiñones.
To daughter Elena, Manitzas was “just my Daddy” — a kind and good-humored man. “Other than being a great journalist and always on top of the story he was just really a good person and caring about other people. That’s what I learned from him.”
Born to Greek immigrants who settled in San Angelo, Texas, the Texas A&M journalism graduate bore witness to some of the 20th century’s biggest stories during a career that stretched from the AP in 1955 through his retirement from ABC News as its bureau chief for Latin America in Coral Gables in 1994. Post-retirement, he continued as an independent journalist covering Cuba and the Americas for various websites.
His work often put him in danger. Manitzas reported live on the streets of Santiago, Chile, when the government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in September 1973. The Manitzas home was raided in an allanamiento (a break in). His wife Nita, an outspoken Latin America expert and supporter of the victims of the new military regime, was held at gunpoint, as were their two children.
“Our house was searched and they were going through these papers from the wire service and all of a sudden all of these Playboy magazines fall to the floor,” Elena recalled. Her mother giggled but was secretly terrified the intruders would search the attic and find her stash of forbidden Allende posters.
Manitzas came home after the raid, Elena said. “Dad says, ‘What’s new?’ Runs upstairs,” then races to his office to file the story. “Later, when he comes back, he says, ‘Are you OK?’”
MANITZAS PENNED UNPOPULAR EDITORIALS WHILE AT TEXAS A&M TO ALLOW WOMEN ENROLLMENT IN THE EARLY 1950S — “A&M GOES COED OR IT GOES TO HELL” —MORE THAN A DECADE BEFORE IT HAPPENED.
Said longtime friend Bernard Diederich, a retired Time bureau chief for Miami and the Caribbean: “He was very good and became persona non grata in those areas where the military took over and very much a hands-on reporter.” Diederich remembered the time he saw Manitzas flying down the road on the back of a motorcycle to cover Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to Mexico in 1979.
During the bloody 1987 schoolhouse massacre in the wake of Haiti’s first free elections in 30 years, Diederich’s son JB and Manitzas, along with members of his ABC News crew, were shot at. Some were injured. “It was Frank who had us evacuated on a Learjet,” JB Diederich said.
In 1980, during the Mariel boatlift, Manitzas did a week-long series with ABC anchorman Peter Jennings from Cuba on advances in medicine and education on the island. His reports led to death threats.
However, not all of his reporting was fraught with danger. In 1967, he traveled to South Africa to cover the first heart transplant done by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, who insisted it was much ado about very little, that he had performed many successful liver transplants. “Have you ever told a woman, ‘I love you with all my liver?’” Manitzas countered.
FRANK WAS AN OLD SCHOOL JOURNALIST. HE WAS LIKE A SECOND FATHER TO ME. HE HAD AN INFECTIOUS SMILE AND LOVED HIS PROFESSION, BUT HIS BIGGEST LOVE WAS ALWAYS RESERVED FOR HIS LATE WIFE NITA AND HIS KIDS NICK AND ELENA.
Miami photojournalist JB Diederich.
As CBS special effects producer, Manitzas was also in charge of the recreation of the lunar landing in 1969, just in case live video reception fizzled. He designed a big, hollowed-out lunar module and had someone pose as an astronaut inside a space suit. Of course, that poor “astronaut” learned quickly that earth’s gravity made that suit so much heavier here than on the moon, his daughter Elena said.
Manitzas sometimes did his work too well. When conspiracy theorists found out about his footage, it gave them ammunition for years that the lunar landing was a hoax concocted by TV.
Manitzas is survived by his son Nikola and daughter Elena Manitzas, siblings Marie Crumly, George, Mary and Demetrios (Jimmy) Manitzas and his six beloved cats. His wife, Nita, died in 2008. The family will be holding a private gathering at their home.
The family requests donations to the Committee to Protect Journalists or similar organizations like Amnesty International, ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Cuban Studies or WOLA.
Howard Cohen: 305-376-3619, @HowardCohen
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