Coppelia will recess its services
Coppelia Ice Cream will recess its services from May 2 to June
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Coppelia ice-cream parlor. Photo: Joyme Cuan/ Tribuna de La Habana.
The Coppelia ice cream parlor, located in the central streets L and 23, in Havana’s Vedado, will close its services to the public for maintenance and repair work from next May 2 until June, and simultaneously will also cease production of the ice cream factory of the same name.
According to a note to our editorial staff, “the objective is to make technological improvements in the factory, improve the ice-cream production processes, and create the conditions for the definitive and stable production of Coppelia ice-cream.
“Taking advantage of this stop, improvements and maintenance actions will also be carried out in the ice-cream parlor, which will allow a better service to the population and the rescue of offers that have always characterized this emblematic site of the capital”.
We hope that the changes are not only structural, but that the reopening will lead to an improvement of the service, Achilles’ heel of the installation.
Congo-Brazzaville Repatriates Med Students
Congo-Brazzaville authorities decide to repatriate 142 scholarship holders from Cuba
May 8, 2019
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and his Congolese counterpart Jean Claude Gakosso. Photo: Cubaminrex.
The authorities of Congo-Brazzaville decided to repatriate 142 students from that country who attend universities in Cuba, for “having violently claimed their scholarships” or recorded “deficient academic results,” was reported Wednesday to the AFP.
On the list of expellees are 66 students who had violently claimed their scholarship arrears at the Congolese Embassy in Havana at the end of March.
“These students crossed the red line. They behaved in an unexemplary manner. Even on social networks we saw one of them fighting with a Cuban policeman,” said Jean-Claude Gakosso, Congolese foreign minister.
“The Cuban authorities no longer want them in their territory,” he added during a dialogue with the parents of these students on Tuesday.
The second group is made up of 76 other students who will also be repatriated, but in these cases “for having recorded a succession of (academic) failures, both in medicine and in learning the official language of Cuba (Spanish),” according to Bruno Jean-Richard Itua, the country’s minister of higher education.
Gakosso recently returned from Cuba, where he led a large delegation. In Havana, he spoke with Cuban authorities. No date has yet been set for the return of the students.
“The safety conditions of these young people who will return to the country will be guaranteed. They will be immediately made available to their parents,” said Interior Minister Raymond Zephirin Mbulu.
As of last March, Congolese students in Cuba had accumulated 27 months of scholarship arrears, according to Itua, who said they were paid 12 months after the demonstrations.
Trotsky’s Ideas Discussed in Cuba
LA IZQUIERDA DIARIO [Left Daily]
Trotsky’s ideas discussed in Cuba
The “First Academic Event on Leon Trotsky”, organized by the Cuban Institute of Philosophy, took place from May 6 to 8. It also has the support of the Museo Casa León Trotsky, from Mexico, the Centro de Estudios Investigación y Publicaciones León Trotsky (Argentina-Mexico) and other study centers.
By La Izquierda Diario México
@LaIzqDiarioMX
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
The meeting brought together a hundred participants from Cuba and different countries around the world.
Among the participants are intellectuals and researchers specialized in Trotsky’s work, such as Suzi Weissman, Robert Brenner, Paul LeBlanc, Eric Toussaint, who exhibited at the first of the day’s tables.
The day ended with the presentation of the book Trotsky en el espejo de la historia (Trotsky in the Mirror of History) by the Peruvian historian Gabriel García Higueras.
The importance of the event is evident, as it is an activity dedicated to reflect and discuss the legacy of Leon Trotsky, which was a true taboo on the island. Of note is the attendance of young Cuban students and researchers interested in learning about the ideas of the founder of the Red Army.
On Tuesday there will be the premiere of the documentary about Trotsky “The most dangerous man in the world”, by director Lindy Laubman, with the historical advice of Suzi Weissman. This film has unpublished images.
An outstanding photographic exhibition on the Russian revolutionary, by the Trotsky House Museum, was also inaugurated at the event’s venue.
During the next two days, the tables and book presentations will continue. On Wednesday, Pablo Oprinari will present Latin American Writings from CEIP León Trotsky.
CENESEX cancels 2019 Conga
Facebook
Adjustment to the program of the twelfth edition of the Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia
CENESEX-MONDAY, MAY 6, 2019
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
Given the current situation in the country, the Organizing Committee of the twelfth edition of the Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia has had to make an adjustment to the program, as indicated by the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), an organization to which the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) belongs and which serves as rector of the National Program for Education and Sexual Health, in compliance with the policies of the Party, the State and the Revolution.
Complying with Minsap guidelines, the Cuban Conga against Homophobia and Transphobia will not be held this year, due to certain circumstances that do not help its successful development, both in Havana and Camagüey, without this implying that it will not be resumed next year.
The new tensions in the international and regional context, directly and indirectly, affect our country and have tangible and intangible impacts in the normal development of our daily life and in the implementation of the policies of the Cuban State.
We must emphasize that this change in the program of the Conference does not imply the suspension of the rest of the activities. On the contrary, the decision taken seeks to strengthen and protect everything planned for this edition, which even surpasses last year’s program, with a strong component of academic spaces.
As always in these twelve years, we have the accompaniment of the Party and the Government, as well as the mass media, other state institutions and organizations of Cuban civil society.
National Center for Sex Education
Organizing Committee of the 12th Cuban Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia
Cenesex Community Social Networks
Adjustment to 2019 Conga program
FACEBOOK
Adjustment to the program of the twelfth edition of the Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia
CENESEX CENESEX · MONDAY, MAY 6, 2019
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Given the current situation in the country, the Organizing Committee of the twelfth edition of the Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia has had to make an adjustment to the program, as indicated by the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), an organization to which the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) belongs and which serves as rector of the National Program for Education and Sexual Health, in compliance with the policies of the Party, the State and the Revolution.
Complying with Minsap guidelines, the Cuban Conga against Homophobia and Transphobia will not be held this year, due to certain circumstances that do not help its successful development, both in Havana and Camagüey, without this implying that it will not be resumed next year.
The new tensions in the international and regional context, directly and indirectly, affect our country and have tangible and intangible impacts in the normal development of our daily life and in the implementation of the policies of the Cuban State.
We must emphasize that this change in the program of the Conference does not imply the suspension of the rest of the activities. On the contrary, the decision taken seeks to strengthen and protect everything planned for this edition, which even surpasses last year’s program, with a strong component of academic spaces.
As always in these twelve years, we have the accompaniment of the Party and the Government, as well as the mass media, other state institutions and organizations of Cuban civil society.
National Center for Sex Education
Organizing Committee of the 12th Cuban Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia
Cenesex Community Social Networks
Clarifications on the 2019 Conga
FACEBOOK
Clarifications on the twelfth edition of the Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia
CENESEX-THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019
CENESEX-THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2019
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
The original is posted by CENESEX to their FACEBOOK page.
The National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) has been a specialized institution of the Ministry of Public Health since 1988. Its mission is to contribute to the development of comprehensive sexuality education, sexual health and the recognition and guarantee of the population’s sexual rights.
In 2007, CENESEX began to observe the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, and one year later, to hold the Cuban Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia, with the aim of promoting the free and responsible exercise of sexual orientation and gender identity, and to educate citizens in respect for sexual rights, always with the participation of State institutions and civil society organizations.
The twelfth edition of the conference (2019) has programmed 29 activities in two provinces of the country (Havana and Camagüey), characterized by the development of academic, community, artistic, recreational and communicational spaces. In addition, initiatives are being carried out in other territories. All this effort is carried out from the Ministry of Public Health and in coordination with the leadership of the Party and the government, in that instance.
Among the most emblematic activities of these celebrations, the conga and the artistic gala are recognized, which have remained since the beginning. This year an adjustment was reported in the program that implies the cancellation of the conga, which has had a wide repercussion that has been widely reflected in social networks.
However, the sharpening of the aggressiveness against Cuba and Venezuela, which in the case of our country has its maximum expression in the activation of Chapter III of the Helms Burton Law, has emboldened groups that, although they already existed, in recent times are trying more forcefully to distort the reality of Cuba. For that purpose, they intend to use our Conga to discredit, divide and replace the true meaning of this activity.
The Conga is not the only resource within the educational and communicational actions to sensitize and mobilize reflections in the citizenry. Those who really want to defend the days can close ranks together with Cenesex and the organizing committee of this twelfth edition, to ensure its successful development, and not join provocations or politically prejudiced attacks.
These actions are promoted fundamentally by some groups that have always been alien and even opposed to the organization of this type of events, and to the role of the public institutions that organize and defend it. Now they use what happened with the conga as a weapon against our institution, and through it, against the State, the government and the Party.
To those who, from activism or because of their sincere civic convictions, feel the logical annoyance and contrariness that motivates this change in the program, we exhort them to maintain calm, to show discipline and responsibility, in order to contribute to the better development and present and future evolution of our Days.
The political and civic maturity of our LGBTI population must prevail over any attempt to distort or sabotage what we have done together for more than a decade. Its greatest expression is the challenges and legislative advances to which we are committed since the proclamation of the new Constitution. This must be our first priority, and therefore is the theme of this and next year’s Jornadas (2019-2020): All Rights for All People under the Rewrite Happiness campaign.
We call, then, to make these Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia a space for unity, in the defense of the Revolution and socialism, as the only social project that defends the true inclusion of all people.
Organizing Committee of the Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia
The Empire Has to Adjust its Policies
The Empire Has to Adjust its Policies
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Quoted by Strategic Culture, Zhang Jiadong, researcher and professor at the Center for American Studies at the Chinese University of Fudan, considers that the United States is learning to cope with its new status through a policy change.
After Donald Trump became President, the internal and foreign policy of he United States has experienced a dramatic turn.
Firstly, Washington has begun to look more closely at its internal affairs promoting the motto “America First” countering its previous policy and its own hegemonic agenda with an emphasis on sovereignty, reciprocity and nationalism.
Secondly, its openness and inclusion are gradually changing towards closedness and narrowness. (Regarding its treaties with China, U.S. behavior has become narrower regarding immigration and the treatment of Chinese expatriates).
Thirdly, Washington has gone from being a promoter of its version of justice in the abstract, to the defense of its interests.
There are those who believe that the United States has always been this way and what has marked the difference is the frankness of its new president. Others think that this is a gradual adjustment and Washington will return to the level of openness and inclusion it has always had.
When World War II ended, the United States was an integral leader. Its GDP represented more than 50 % of the world total, and its manufacturing production was between 60 and 70 % of this.
Militarily, it was stronger than all the other countries put together.
As the scientific and academic elites fled to the United States to seek asylum during the war, the country became –and remains being so– the scientific and academic center of the world.
From a financial point of view, the world’s main financial resources were in the in the hands of the United States.
The United States was considered the leader and liberator of the free world, despite the fact that it was the last important country to join the allied forces in the Second World War to defeat fascism.
Because of this, the U.S. was able to establish a huge hegemonic system. Although the Soviet Union had the capacity to challenge the United States in certain fields, such as the military, the U.S. emerged as the most powerful country in the world in terms of comprehensive national strength.
In the post-Cold War world, the political power of The United States reached its peak after winning the first Gulf War.
The United States almost completely dominated the world under the conditions of a uni-polar world order.
However, everything began to decline after the U.S. suffered serious economic and security setbacks.
The September 11, 2001 attacks showed that their security was not absolute. The 2007 mortgage financial crisis revealed its economic vulnerability, and the 2008 global financial crisis demonstrated that the United States needed outside support too.
Due to changes in the world order and its international stature, some U.S. policies that were effective in the past ceased to function. Trade used to be an activity by means of which Washington influenced the domestic and international policies of many countries.
Before China entered the WTO, the US used unilateral most-favored-nation treatment as a lever to influence some of the internal and external policies of China. It can no longer do so.
In the recent trade dispute between China and the U.S., some important steps taken by the U.S. have no longer been allowed by the WTO.
The influence of the United States on the trade of other countries has also shown signs of weakening.
Even in defense, its relative influence has been reduced, and more and more countries are increasingly developing their own sea and air defense capabilities.
During a long period after the Second World War, the United States had held the maritime hegemony. Now, the maritime forces of Asian countries such as China, Japan and India have been strengthened and more coastal States claim rights to their waters under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Although the United States sea and air forces have not yet been expelled, their freedom to operate out of its territorial waters and airspace has decreased.
With its leadership eroded, the United States has begun to change the nature of its policies and is trying to compensate for its diminished influence through adjustment, harassment and intimidation.
To avoid direct strategic confrontation with Washington some countries make concessions. “But, in the long run, the relations of the US with other countries, including China, will return to the logic of international relations”, according to the prediction of Chinese researcher and professor Zhang Jiadong..
May 6, 2019.
This article may be reproduced by quoting POR ESTO as its source
Ridiculous Yankee Coup Machine
The Ridiculous Yankee Coup Machine
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
It was more than a failed coup attempt against the legitimate government of Venezuela. What happened in that South American country the previous weekend has been a ridiculous spectacle for the American fascist right-wing and, specifically, for some of the most grotesque figures of U.S. imperialism and several of its most discredited parasites.
It has been pitiful to observe the government of the country that has played the role of a single great global power since the end of the Cold War. It could have been a world leader on a path of reciprocal respect and harmony within differences, but it has fallen to the bottom of the scale of universal political values.
It is true that Washington has never shown much respect for truth and honesty at the most critical moments in the history of international relations. Still, it is surprising that political entities so demonstrably lacking in prestige were called upon to lead that nation’s diplomacy to such a backwater in the scale of universal political values.
It is hard to imagine that Donald Trump, who considers himself a “permanent winner” by virtue of his fortune and his business acumen, can win any task with corrupt political advisers of the ilk of Elliott Abrams, Mike Pompeo, Elliott Abrams, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Peter Navarro, Juan Guaidó. Let’s not forget the permanent fugitive from justice, Leopoldo López, who make up, among others, the squad that was assigned to him for this battle to swallow Venezuela by the always-losing Miami mafia.
None of the fallacies that the team of advisors manufactured for him could be sustained. This proves that those who devised them intended to drive Trump to [commit] political suicide.
The media, ready for the farce, began it by sending out a statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It assured him that Guaidó had been “duly” elected, to adjust the narrative of U.S. interference in Venezuela to that new lying discourse on the coup. The authorities, and much of the U.S. media began to refer to the phony Juan Guaidó as the “duly elected president of Venezuela.
In reality, Guaido had not been duly elected as president, nor had he participated in any Venezuelan election for that highest office. He was barely elected to a seat in parliament in 2015, and from there promoted to a substantial position of power within parliament by virtue of U.S. support.
Then, in January, Trump’s advisers began to pressure Guaidó into trying to take over the country. The false legal pretext was that the constitution allowed the head of parliament to be named “interim president” if the elected did not show up to take office.
What is true and known to all Venezuelan citizens is that President Maduro took office on January 10, after being elected in fair elections. The inauguration took place before the Supreme Court instead of the Assembly building where the opposition obtained a reduced majority, which was a pretext for those preparing the coup to later assert that this was not legal.
The recognition by the United States of the legitimacy of Guaidó’s seizure of power was a cynical move. To call him “duly elected president” an absolute lie.
“Knowing what I learned when the attempt to oust Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002 did not surprise me when the effort was renewed by the Trump administration. The more so when characters like Elliott Abrams, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott – not to mention John Bolton – began to appear on the White House payroll.
That’s what Larry Wilkerson, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, has declared.
“But the bloodshed in Venezuela – military and civilian – and the dead and wounded U.S. soldiers and Marines won’t give this old soldier any comfort,” he said.
“I know the Venezuelan military, I’ve trained some of them. Most of them, if the U.S. military arrives in Venezuela, will enter the very formidable hills with jungle backdrops. They will harass, kill, take prisoners from time to time and, in general, they will endure forever or until the gringos leave. We could remember how the North Vietnamese and the Taliban did it; so will the Venezuelans.
May 3, 2019.
This article may be reproduced by quoting the newspaper POR ESTO as the source.
Madero to Maduro
From Madero to Maduro in Latin America
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
A little more than 100 years ago, Mexico had a very popular president who was well-loved and had been democratically-elected, named Francisco Madero.
Determined to reduce foreign influence and the obscene profits that were extracted from the country, Madero wanted to raise the standard of living of his people.
The financial interests of Wall Street rejected such projects by the president of a country that was within its hegemonic sphere. It then orchestrated a military coup against him and made sure that he was brutally murdered.
Journalist and researcher Martin Sieff — in the January 21 edition Strategic Culture Foundation (Fundación de Cultura Estratégica)website– starting from the orthographic similarity of the surnames Madero and Maduro, clarifies that the president of Mexico to whom he refers is not in any way related to the Bolivarian and Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro, President of Venezuela, but the parallels and contrasts between the two men motivate consideration.
Francisco Madero, the idealistic reformist leader who ruled Mexico as President from 1911 to 1913, did not have the political acumen and common sense shown by the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Madero naively relied on the commander in chief of the army, General Victoriano Huerta, whom he had inherited from his predecessor, President Porfirio Diaz,. Throughout the 35 years of Diaz’s government, from 1876 to 1911, Huerta had carried out a series of genocidal campaigns against the Yaqui and Mayan natives.
In 1913, Wall Street interests enthusiastically supported Huerta when he carried out a coup against Francisco Madero. The US president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, was a recalcitrant racist who despised the Mexican people, initially supported Huerta’s coup from the start.
The huge financial and mining interests of New York were anxious to continue plundering Mexico’s resources. Those were times when more than 90% of its population lived in virtual slavery in the frightful poverty that Diaz had represented and defended.
In the last decade of Porfirio Diaz’s government –supported by the financial bandits of Wall Street and by the complacent administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft– at least 600,000 people were worked to the death as rural slaves in the properties of Diaz’s supporters.
In Washington, there was not a whisper of disapproval toward Huerta’s coup d’état, who ruled with his usual thuggish brutality for less than a year and a half until he was expelled after a brief but bloody civil war.
Huerta fled to the United States, of course, but then made the mistake of encouraging American business and military leaders alike to openly embrace imperial Germany in order to plan his militaristic return to Mexico.
Huerta died in U.S. military custody in 1916 after a night of binge drinking. Poisoning by his American captors was widely suspected, but the cause could have been simply excessive intake of alcohol. His autopsy revealed terminal liver cirrhosis.
To this day, Huerta is vilified as the mass murderer and cowardly tool of the cynical foreign interests he was, while the well-intentioned, but the ineffective Madero is loved by the Mexican people.
The days elapsed since the beginning of Huerta’s coup and the execution of the president –along with his own brother and vice-president– by an improvised firing squad are remembered as The Tragic Ten Days.
In the following years, Mexico endured all the horrors of a collapsed State with rival gangs slaughtering each other and whoever stood in their way.
The country’s population plummeted from 15 million, in 1910, to 11.6 million a decade later. More than 25 % of the country’s population died in the years of anarchic violence brought about after the murder of President Madero by the hated Huerta.
The tragic decade continues to resonate in Mexico to this day when the current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador resists enormous pressure from the Trump administration to force Mexico into recognizing their puppet, Juan Guaido, as president of Venezuela.
At the same time, Lopez Obrador reveres the martyred president Madero, and painfully remembers the bloodbaths and chaos that the hated Huerta unleashed after toppling him.
Madero naively trusted the honor of the man who had been his army commander, the murderer Huerta. On the contrary, Nicolas Maduro as President of Venezuela, just like his predecessor and political mentor Hugo Chavez, has always made sure of having a high command of the army loyal to the democratically-elected national civilian leaders.
February 25, 2019.
This article may be reproduced by quoting the newspaper POR ESTO! as its source
I don’t “fit” in the group
I don’t “fit” in the group
Juventud Rebelde shares the testimony of a Camagüeyan teenager who suffered harassment and abuse in her school and needed the specialized accompaniment of the psychologist to overcome the complex situation.
By Olga LIlia Vilató de Varona
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Published: Thursday 18 April 2019 | 09:05:39 am.
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
CAMAGÜEY: It is usually very pleasant to talk with a little girl; however, I confess that on this occasion it was not. The subject of bullying (bullying, no matter the term) hurts. I promised her and her grandfather, who accompanied her, that I would not publish her name for various reasons. I asked her to call me, nothing about you.
Daniela, that’s what I’ll call her, when she’s only 13 years old and in 8th grade. She’s lived through undesirable moments for anyone, especially at an age when illusions abound, but they can even fall into anguish. I came to her story because she had gone through a therapy group for teenagers, led by José Eduardo Vázquez Benítez, a graduate in Psychology and Defectology.
-Tell me how the discomfort began, how did you get to such a hard trial?
-I started to suffer from this problem in the 7th grade, because I was the one who didn’t fit into the group. Another thing was that another little girl was considered the best and from that moment on, I surpassed her in Chemistry and Physics and everything began. Now I think it was because I was a student, I got good grades and I never “blew” on others in exams.
“They called me crazy, scared and a lesbian, the latter because I didn’t have a boyfriend. Especially the “scared” and also the “punctualita”, for that TV series.
-Did you tell the teacher and the director? Did they take action?
-Yes, the teacher scolded them sometimes, but they didn’t change. The principal found out, but she didn’t do anything and, luckily, she’s gone. Now we have a director who has taken care of me; he’s the one who changed my group.
-Did you tell your parents?
-Of course, they began to realize that something was happening to me, I told them and then they went to school.
-But you stayed in the same school…
-Yes, although I wanted to go to another one, my mother and my grandparents advised me that I should face problems and not run away, because it was something that could happen to me somewhere else and I wasn’t always going to [be able to] escape.
-How did the family support you in the face of this unpleasant event, besides taking you to the psychologist?
-They helped me a lot. In fact, they gave me affectionate advice and accompanied me to group therapies, where we talked about our problems, we opened up, we all did it. It gave me the strength to continue.
-Did your academic performance drop as a result of these difficulties?
No, because I have continued to study and make an effort, and I plan to do my pre-university studies in the Vocational [program].
-How would you describe the suffering caused by the rejecting attitudes you received?
-Like something big, I suffered a lot; I wasn’t used to mistreatment, I cried every day, and I was terrified to go back to the classroom. In my home, they love me very much. I have three brothers and thanks to their advice and that of my whole family we asked for help from the specialist.
-Are you doing well in the new group?
-Better. There is more discipline, I have more girlfriends and so far I have not been treated badly. My teacher keeps order and the first day I arrived in that classroom she asked her students to treat me as if we had been together since the first day of school.
-How do you feel now?
-Well, it’s all happening now.
-In this classroom, there are probably other smart students like you…
-Of course. That’s good, what I don’t like is that they brag about it and make fun of those who aren’t so good.
-Have you ever been in love with a boy?
-I’ve been told “I love you” and things like that, but I’m a child and I want to study, and I’d like to have a boyfriend when I’m in love.
-What subjects do you prefer?
-Biology, Geography… almost all of them, except Mathematics.
-What do you plan to study?
-Medicine. I don’t have a clear specialty; I’ll see in due course.
-Did you ever think you didn’t want to live?
-I don’t know if it was that way, but I had no motivation whatsoever, either to go to school, or to go out. It was as if I was worthless. I locked myself in my room, stayed in my bed and didn’t even want to eat. I became very depressed. I tried to isolate myself from everyone who hurt me, and then they kept saying things to me. It was terrible.
-You must never not want to live, life is always divine and there are more people who love you, at least in quality, no matter the quantity. Have you thought about that?
-I know, and especially my family.
-How would you face another similar situation if it happened?
-Without violence, because I am not aggressive, but with intelligence. I learned that now. Besides, my behavior has been described as excellent and I want to keep it [that way].
-Would you dare to give advice to boys your age?
-Of course. First of all, don’t let them be bothered. They must be strong, face everything, and if they don’t get it, then they must communicate with their parents, teachers, and a specialist to help them.
-You have to love yourself and yours. Don’t stop studying, or pursuing your dreams…
-Of course, I must tell myself that I am pretty, intelligent and always think positive.
It’s good to know that school bullying is a worldwide problem, and has physical, emotional, verbal and cyberbullying nuances.
=========================================================
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON THE WEB
(unedited machine translation, but easy enough to grasp.)
Alexander Brossard
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 10:00:31 am.
The bullyin is something so unpleasant and unfortunately so common that it is embarrassing but in my experience never affect me because I really care about a face…… what other people think of me the only opinion that matters is mine, and I faced the mockery or criticism in two ways the first thought of the thought of our apostle Jose Marti if sad is not to have a sad friend but sad is not to have enemies because he who has no enemies has no talent or anything that is envied, the other way to face the mockery and bad criticism and the one that caused me more pleasure was to break their faces and make them bleed to those who mocked me after that I took so much fear that I surrendered or guataqueaban, because they knew what I am capable of doing with my intelligence and my violent and aggressive character.
Reply
Martivarela
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 10:13:17 am.
Olga Lilia: the school is a melting pot that shapes the personality of new generations. A good teaching staff not only teaches the content of the different subjects; it is not only prepared to combat bullying, but it also knows how to sculpt the souls of its students so that they may be good people, and practice solidarity, love and justice. Well-educated children cultivate responsibility, discipline, good feelings, respect, good manners and shame. Hence the importance of educators being academically and professionally trained and mastering the art of teaching, taking into account necessary tools such as pedagogy, methodology, means of teaching, psychology etc. The financial investment that gives better fruits, greater profits and very valuable results is the one related to the sphere of education. A well-educated people translates into well-being, savings, prosperity; it translates into culture, hygiene, public service, competition, functionality; it translates into ethics, morality, efficiency, patriotism, decorum and human quality. A well-educated people will always commune with beauty, honesty, hope, harmony and happiness.
To respond
alejandro
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 10:52:28 am.
As a former teacher and as a member of the LGBTI community, I believe that bullying is a phenomenon that we have to put an end to, especially in schools. I never allowed any kind of rejection in my classroom for any reason. I always encouraged respect for the human being and acceptance in all my students. It is unheard-of to see that this kind of behaviour is going on in our country and the worst thing is that there is no institution to which you can go to denounce and that measures are taken in this regard, including imprisonment for violation of Article 42 of the Constitution in force. I have been a victim during my time as a student because I am a homosexual and I have not yet been able to forget it. But I imposed myself and I was able to overcome all obstacles and today I am a happy and fulfilled person and of course the support of my family was vital.
Reply
Olga Lilia Vilató de Varona
Friday 19 April 2019 | 02:01:10 pm.
Alejandro, thank you for your comment and also for being such a Master, that’s how it should be. Your experience? although you never forget it, surely made it stronger and that’s why it’s the happy you are today.
Reply
Palax
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 01:20:29 pm.
Excellent article I also suffered from that problem in high school and I had to choose to apply brutal methods of physical violence to eliminate choteo, as time goes by I do not feel well at all to think of the damage I caused.
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Olga Lilia Vilató de Varona
Friday 19 April 2019 | 01:54:03 pm.
Palax , thank you for your opinion. He weighs his own attitude because it is not violent by nature, perhaps if he had been guided by a professional would have resolved the same without getting to do what does not go with his personality. I’m glad he served you.
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M.Montero
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 01:31:13 pm.
The best advice comes from the house: Mom, Dad, grandparents and other relatives. There are single mothers who raise their children very well on the basis of “respect, love” and then understand those around you. It is a subject of centuries this is not new nor it appeared now in this epoch. There are those who physically can be said to be full of defects however they have a strong self-esteem capable of knocking down “stones” just with the look. And how do you do that? It occurs to me that the most self-confident person is the one who has finally understood what “beauty” means.
Answer
Olga Lilia Vilató de Varona
Friday 19 April 2019 | 01:56:34 pm.
Thank you for your comment. I understand your criteria, only in this case is a girl of 13 years and at that age not infrequently requires the help of a professional, fortunately your family is very well harmonized and your support was great.
Reply
Martivarela
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 01:57:47 pm.
Olga Lilia: self-esteem is a human need; it is basic and essential in the magical and complex process of life; it is indispensable for normal and healthy development. It has survival value. Not having a balanced self-esteem impedes our spiritual growth. If it is adequate, it acts as the immune system of the consciousness, giving it strength and regeneration capacity. When it is low, our resistance to the adversities of the time decreases. If we encourage (as politics) mediocrity, marginalism, servitude and dependence, we will obtain individuals with feelings of inferiority, insecure, prone to isolation, shy, introverted and incapable of conquering successes and much less of incorporating altruism, trust and decorum into their personality. People who really reject each other, underestimate each other and misunderstand each other, are not usually happy. Self-esteem allows the individual to face reality with greater decision and optimism, and therefore more easily achieve their goals and achieve, through work and merit, their self-realization. To understand this is fundamental and it is in benefit of the human relations, because the development of the positive self-esteem, increases the capacity to treat the others with respect and gentleness, favoring this way the enriching interpersonal relations and avoiding the destructive ones. Love for others and love for ourselves are not opposites. Quite the opposite. An attitude of love towards oneself is found in all those who are capable of loving others. Paradoxically, most people seek self-confidence and self-respect outside their heart, which is why they are doomed to failure. Self-esteem is best understood as a kind of spiritual or mental achievement, that is, as a victory in the evolution of wisdom that provides spiritual serenity, favoring, in turn, the enjoyment of existence. The state of a person who is not at war with himself or others is one of the most significant characteristics of healthy self-esteem. True self-esteem is not expressed through self-glorification at the expense of others, or through the eagerness to be superior to others or to lower them to elevate oneself. Arrogance, banality, celopathy, machismo and the overvaluation of one’s own capacities reveal a mistaken self-esteem, and not an excess of self-esteem. Let us say no to the obtuse manipulation that hinders the culture of respect for diversity and the full dignity of all human beings. Let us say no to the senseless, violent and patriarchal philosophy that sows revenge, hatred and resentment in the collective conscience. Let us say no to the ideology that imposes dogmas, absurdities and cravings to the detriment of love and happiness. Let’s say no, to the recycling of prejudices and conventionalisms that murder self-esteem, virtue and hope.
To respond
Martivarela
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 02:56:45 pm.
Olga Lilia: fighting bullying with violence is like putting ourselves at the same level as bullying. Intelligence is having a good heart; intelligence is looking for alternatives, where humanism, humour, respect and good will are manifested. Intelligence is to populate our foreheads with stars so that they illuminate the path that passes through the temple of altruism and culminates in the summit of perfectibility.
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Olga Lilia
Friday 19 April 2019 | 01:51:48 pm.
In effect Mártivarela, and that has been the goal of the help group with this purpose, which also includes children with addiction to technology or cyberaddiction, is also known as Internet addiction disorder (IAD), and with very good results, the girl in this testimony has a family that has helped her and with the vision to take her to the specialist. She was already another at the time of the interview, without a doubt, her intelligence and the support received were more than unpleasant events. Thank you for your comment and I hope it is not the last…
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M.Montero
Thursday 18 April 2019 | 04:51:56 pm.
Of course, the subject of self-esteem can not only be commented through the so-called “choteo”. There are many ways to “isolate” a human being, to harass him until he “alienates” himself. Abuse goes beyond classroommate to peer. From co-worker to boss and from this to subordinate. In my particular case to avoid what the first forista writes I prefer, in occasions, to isolate myself. Sincerely I despise the arrogance but…it has been the tracer bullet, you forgive me. You don’t have to do it the way I do and you don’t have to agree. I simply think that each one reacts and acts according to his heart…it still beats me ? …yes ? It means I can still survive. Thank you.
Reply
Olga Lilia Vilató de Varona
Friday 19 April 2019 |
Reply
Ronaldo
Friday 19 April 2019 | 08:32:30 am.
Is that there are no laws that bring parents and students who bullying before a judge?
Reply
Olga Lilia Vilató de Varona
Friday 19 April 2019 | 01:50:12 pm.
Hello, I appreciate the kindness of Juventud Rebelde for this publication, and to readers who have used some of their precious time in leaving their comments, Olga Lilia Vilató de Varona.
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