Tillerson Out, Pompeo In
Tillerson’s gone and Pompeo’s here
Posted: Monday 14 May 2018 | 07:55:29 PM
By Lázaro Fariñas
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
It seems that not only by going to Seville you lose your seat. For example, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not go to that city, but he did go to Africa, and he lost his seat. The man, in the best Trumpist style, was called and fired. It was so humiliating that they were not even kind enough to wait for him to recover from a bad stomach acquired in that region.
Worse still, to further publicized information no one needed to know. It is known that there had long been a series of disagreements between Tillerson and the President, and on countless occasions there was a rumour that he was going to be fired at any moment. Donald Trump never forgave the Secretary of State for publicly calling him a moron at the end of a meeting with several cabinet members. Vengeful as he is, the President waited for the most inopportune moment to humiliate him.
It must be said that this gentleman was at least called on the phone, since with FBI Director James Comey, they didn’t even have that courtesy and the man learned of his dismissal on television in the middle of a meeting with his subordinates in California.
When Tillerson returned to Washington, he was no longer Secretary of State, having already been replalce in that position by that time by CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
Who’s Mike Pompeo?
When this man was appointed by Trump to the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he was a Congressional Representative from Kansas since 2011.
For some time he was in the Armed Forces where he held the rank of captain. He studied at the Military Academy in West Point, where he graduated as an engineer, and then was admitted to Harvard Law School, graduating as a lawyer, a career he practiced for a while and then went into business, until he came into politics in 2010.
Pompeo, whose paternal grandfather was born in Italy, was a member of the Congress of the Italian-American Delegation. He belongs to the ultraconservative group known as the Tea Party, a group that is on the far-right of the Republican Party.
This gentleman’s credentials as an ultraconservative are impeccable.
He supports the killings being committed by the Israelis against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. He supports the method of torture by drowning [euphemistically called “waterboarding]/ He is against the closure of the torture center at the Guantánamo Naval Base. He was against the agreements that were signed with Iran. He opposes women’s right to abortion and he says that life begins at conception. He does not accept same-sex marriage. He iss a distinguished member of the National Rifle Association. He opposes the health care law that benefits the poor known as Obamacare. He does not believe in climate change, and opposes the United States signing the greenhouse gases treaty. I really don’t even know how you can be so reactionary.
At his Senate confirmation hearing, Pompeo moderated some of his positions. Of course, I knew he would not be confirmed if he held such an uncompromising position.
It is very difficult to know how this new Secretary of State will act.
It will be necessary to see if he can maintain a good diplomatic relationship with the rest of the world and if he can even stay in office having a boss as unbalanced as the one he has, a boss who likes to humiliate those under him; also, a boss who constantly contradicts himself and who constantly criticizes, lies and names his own employees.
Pompeo has a lot going against him. He declared a few days ago that he is in favor of Israel and of the crimes that that nation is committing against the Palestinians, in his favor he has the fact that he has tried by all means to avoid a war against the Democratic Republic of Korea.
He recently visited that country and met with its President. Now we’ll see if he can get Trump to heed his advice so that he doesn’t screw up with unheard of blunders when it comes time for him to sit down with the North Korean President. It is known that the White House narcissist does not like to take advice. Let’s hope he does listen to them at that next meeting, because if he doesn’t, everything that has been put forward so far to avoid war would go down the worst of roads.
Declaration of the Revolutionary Government
Cuba condemns new Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people
The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba expresses its strongest condemnation of the criminal repression by the Israeli army on the defenceless Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip
Published: Tuesday 15 May 2018 | 01:07:29 PM
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The image of this little girl killed by the attacks on the Gaza Strip goes around the world. Author: AFP Published: 15/05/2018 | 01:15 pm
Cuba condemns new Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people
The Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Cuba expresses its strongest condemnation of the criminal repression by the Israeli army of the defenceless Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 52 people and injured more than 2,400. This is yet another serious and flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law and a further outrage against the Palestinian people.
Cuba reiterates its rejection of the unilateral action of the Government of the United States to establish its diplomatic representation in the city of Jerusalem, in open disrespect of international law and United Nations resolutions, which further aggravates tensions in the region.
The Revolutionary Government reiterates once again its unreserved support for a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the creation of two states, which would allow Palestinians the right to self-determination and to an independent and sovereign state on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Dark History of the Koch Brothers
The Dark History of the Koch Brothers
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
In 2010, when Mike Pompeo arrived in Congress in 2010, he was called “the Koch Congressman” because the amount of the Koch Brothers’ industrial conglomerate’s contribution to his election campaign. Now, when he was approved by Congress as Secretary of State, several media outlets considered that the Koch Brothers finally got their own Secretary of State.
When talking to anyone form the US active in any party about some measure or projection of domestic or foreign policy in his or her country, it is inevitable that the influence that “the Koch brothers” have, or may have, on it is mentioned in one way or another.
Following his confirmation as the new Secretary of State, most of the US media have identified Mike Pompeo as “Koch’s Congressman” or “the Koch brothers’ man”. But outside the U.S. borders, brothers David and Charles Koch are not as well known.
Although they are not among the nation’s leading authorities, there are fundamental reasons for this. Together, they make up the third largest fortune in the country (only Bill Gates and Warren Buffet outnumber them). The two brothers have an annual turnover of more than $100 billion. Their industrial conglomerate is the second largest in the country, behind only the Cargill group. In 2010, it was named the 10th most polluting in the United States by the Political Economic Research Institute of Massachusetts.
Their influence on politics can be calculated by the fact that they have injected around $200 million into the most ultraconservative causes in the last decade and this hardly transcends the media.
The Big Brothers, as they are popularly known, deny their direct link to the Tea Party. They seek to remain invisible from their headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, deep in the heart of the United States. From there, the Kochs have extended the oil empire inherited from their father, Fred, by devising ways of influencing American politics without being noticed too much, through a network of small groups and foundations they have created.
Although not proclaimed a success on its own, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, created by David Koch in 2004, was the real organizer of the Tea Party revolt. One of its phantasmagorical projects, United Patients Now, organized more than 300 “popular” protests against the Obamacare health reform and another 80 to boycott its climate protection laws.
The real forerunner of the Koch Brothers phenomenon was his father, Fred Koch, who half a century ago warned of the risks of “a communist president.” Also a critic of the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and denounced “the infiltration of communists” into the Democratic and Republican parties. His children inherited, in addition to their fortune, his libertarian creed.
Charles, 74, was always the most discreet. David Koch, 70, made an unfortunate foray into politics in 1980, competing with Ronald Reagan, whom he saw as a danger. David ran as a vice presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party having been nominated by Ed Clark, its presidential candidate. Among his “libertarian” electoral promises were the suppression of the FBI and the CIA, the elimination of Social Security and Minimum Wages, total deregulation and a drastic reduction in taxes. The government would be reduced to “protecting individual rights”. They got 1% of the vote.
Four years later, as Reagan took over part of his ideology, David Koch officially became a Republican and dragged his brother down the same path.
The youngest of the Kochs suffered a second enlightenment in the 1990s, when he miraculously survived a plane crash. He reinvented himself as a philanthropist for the American Ballet Theater and created the group Citizens for a Sound Economy to continue to defend his multi-million dollar privileges from the shadows.
He then created Americans for Prosperity (AFP), defined as an organization of “grassroots leaders for limited government and the free market.” He could not openly support candidates, but he invested $45 million to support conservative causes in the November 2, 2016 elections.
According to New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer, on the first anniversary of Obama’s presidency, billionaire David Koch stealthily took the lead in the “people’s revolution” by announcing that “When we created Americans for Prosperity (AFP), we had in mind a mass movement, state-by-state, with hundreds of thousands of Americans fighting for the economic freedoms that made this nation the most prosperous in history….
May 15, 2018.
Against Homophobia and Transphobia
11th Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Posted: Friday 11 May 2018 | 07:33:31 PM
Yesterday, as part of the 11th Annual The Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia was held at the Karl Marx Theatre in the capital, the artistic gala that every May supports respect for free and responsible sexual orientation and gender identity, as an exercise in justice and social equity. The Cuban conga against homophobia and transphobia will be held on Saturday for the same purpose.
The initiative, for the first time, will take place at 6:30 p.m., from the intersection of the capital’s streets Línea and Paseo to the José Antonio Echeverría Recreational Center. In this place will be held the Festival for Diversity at the end of the conga.
Lesbians and Assisted Reproduction in Cuba
Human Freedom Doesn’t Come Through the Gutter
When will lesbians be able to access assisted reproduction or exercise motherhood without their erotic orientation generating conflicts with the father of the child? Can they share maternity leave?
and
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
In unconventional couples there is room for children based on love, responsibility and respect Author: Juventud Rebelde Published: 05/11/2018 | 06:58 pm
The pursuit of human freedom can never be complete without freedom for women, Betty Ford.
“I have two wonderful mothers.” That’s how the poster that a girl carried around La Rampa in Havana during the Cuban Day Against Homophobia in 2013 reads. The controversy reached the social networks and since then hundreds of questions have been raised… and very few answers given.
When will lesbians be able to access assisted reproduction or exercise motherhood without their erotic orientation generating conflicts with the father of the child? Can they share maternity leave? Why is it still believed that daughters will “imitate” them, when the overwhelming majority of homosexual people come from heterosexual, machista and homophobic homes?
According to Dr. Rosa Campoalegre, the vision of the family as an institution continues to be very traditionalist, although it no longer corresponds to a diverse reality in [Cuba’s] structures and ways of functioning, and this slows down the design of more comprehensive and unbiased public policies.
This expert from the Center for Psychological and Sociological Investigations knows that many women find themselves in the dilemma of hiding their status in order not to lose family harmony or to assume it as a life project and face discredit in the social and family sphere.
There is especially little understanding by the male ex-partner. Reactions can range from denying parental rights and duties to demanding full custody and guardianship, arguing that the new “environment” is harmful.
“This is an injustice that is not compatible with our revolutionary project and its goal of eliminating inequality gaps,” insists Dr. Mariela Castro, director of the Sex Education Center (Cenesex). “Ignorance and prejudice should not be used to justify actions of discrimination,” he said.
The law or life
Most of these women do not demand legal protection from acts harmful to their dignity or the rights of their children because they are ashamed or do not know how to do so. For example, if the biological mother is absent from the country or dies, it must be clear who assumes custody of the child, and in the event of a breakdown of the relationship, how to protect property rights.
Beyond macho atavism [backwardness], there are serious concerns about legal coverage for the diverse family configurations that [today] proliferate in the country. Manuel Vázquez Seijido, founder of Cenesex’s Legal Advice Services and deputy director of the center, says there are proposals to update the laws with a less discriminatory approach, looking after the interests of minors in particular.
Responsibility and respect
One of the biggest problems lies in the effect that living with an unconventional partner can have on psychological development. In this regard, Dr. Mariela Castro emphasizes: “Being a mother or father is not a gift of nature, you have to learn to be one in every society. Same-sex couples have shown that they can do well and seek help to take on that responsibility, just as heterosexual couples seek guidance because they are afraid of failing.
This is how the psychologist Roxanne Castellanos saw it in her consultation at the Alfonso Bernal del Riego Center for Attention to Psychological Attention: “These unions can be as functional as a typical nuclear family. The emotional consequences that impact self-esteem occur when the little person becomes aware of how different his or her life is and worries about being the target of criticism.
“The antidote,” insists Mariela Castro, “is to cultivate communication within the family and to demand that in other socializing spaces, such as the schools, the extended family or the neighborhood, they help the child to grow without humiliation or violence, and without depriving the child of her or his rights and opportunities.
It is absurd to believe that the child will end up adopting his or her mothers’ erotic model. Behaviors are learned by imitation, but not so much guidance as everyday behavior. An adequate example of love and mutual respect helps to build a healthy psychosexual identity, centeredd on the responsible enjoyment of the body and the exercise of sexual rights, rather than on the orientation of desire.
If the child is male, male role models can be provided outside the home, just as when the father figure is missing due to widowhood, abandonment or divorce. In addition, sexual orientation is a process that does not finish maturing until late adolescence or youth and by then there are other patterns when it comes to shaping the erotic taste: friendships, teachers, artists, sportsmen…
If the home is functioning well, there is no need for external psychological support, because it will be a space of contention and development where they will always find love, trust and material support, agree the interviewees.
Against Prejudice and For Sexual Diversity
#Me Incluyo I:
Standing Against Prejudices and For Sexual Diversity
By Aniel Santiesteban García
May 11, 2018
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
In its eleventh edition, the campaign promoted by the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), backing a non-judgmental look at sexual diversity, is committed to schools free of homophobia and transphobia. The discussion on it took place on the Mesa Redonda (Round Table) TV program, as well as on radio, which was broadcast on Thursday (May 10)..
Dr. Mariela Castro explains why the schools were chosen again for this campaign.
The Conference will run until the 20th of this month, with emphasis on the educational campaign “Me incluyo” (I Include Myself), which renews its thematic focus every two years.
Dr. C. Mariela Castro Espín, Director of the National Center for Sex Education, M.Sc. Manuel Vázquez Seijido, Deputy Director of the Center, Ms. Delia Rosa Suárez Socarrás, Specialist of the Research and Education Department of Cenesex and M.Sc. Yanira Gómez Delgado, Head of the Independent Department of School Health of the Ministry of Education, were the panelists invited to this space.
It was Dr. C. Mariela Castro, who explained the reason for choosing schools, once again, to develop this campaign: “For some time now, (we are now in our eleventh edition), and from the knowledge we had acquired in terms of legal guidance, we identified how, in the most vulnerable areas, the workplace and at school, where education against homophobia had to begin.”
“From this point on, we decided that we would work on it every two years, so that every message and every way of transmitting it would really achieve its objective; that the campaign would really work,” she added.
“Cuba is a safe country, the school is safe, the family has confidence in it, with these campaigns we want to raise awareness, address worries, and provide education and guidance to the population.
Castro Espín added that the school was chosen, based on studies carried out by important centers and national institutions; “it was an essential space, a place that we could not leave out of the campaign”.
“It is worth noting,” says Mariela, “that the guidelines received by UNESCO, with its call to states, to investigate and address bullying issues within their policies, in the context of violence in school”.
“Cuba is a safe country, the school is safe, the family has confidence in it, with these campaigns we want to raise awareness, raise concern, provide education and guidance to the population with scientifically proven data in studies that we conducted at the Center and other institutions on the subject,” said Castro Espín.
The M.Sc. Yanira Gómez Delgado, Head of the Independent Department of School Health of the Ministry of Education, said that since the beginning of this campaign, the Ministry has been committed to a pedagogical strategy of safer sex promotion.
“We have implemented actions through the curriculum, which have been necessary to introduce into the different curricula, subjects, and teachings,” added the Mined board of directors.
With regard to the Campaign dedicated to schools, the specialist pointed out that the National Education System does not encourage one or another practice regarding sexual orientation.
She added that Mined also has 1997 as a reference year and the national plan of action for the follow-up to the Beijing Conference, which puts into effect a set of actions as evidence of the country’s policy to ponder the role of women.
With regard to the Campaign dedicated to schools, the specialist pointed out that the National Education System does not encourage one or another practice regarding sexual orientation, but rather fights to ensure that each person’s decisions in this regard are respected.
Teachers, according to Gómez Delgado, have been given preparatory seminars for their active participation in this campaign.
“Precisely because of the importance of Cuba’s schools, Cenesex has decided to develop in this eleventh edition of all the teachings in the country’s educational centers,” confirmed Ms. Delia Rosa Suárez Socarrás, a specialist with the Cenesex Research and Education Department.
“We have set out to conduct research to help measure indicators in our country with respect to advocacy against homophobic and transphobic practices, to learn what really happens within the educational centers that we want to preserve,” said Suárez Socarrás.
To this he added: “Research in the social, legal and medical sciences denounces the behaviors that are now commonplace, which are now a reality and remain unresolved in most cases, and persist in the country’s educational centers”.
On behalf of Cenesex, Suárez Socarrás thanked the Ministry of Education for its support and, above all, for the leadership of the professional training schools of the capital’s education sector, where a plan of activities has yet to be developed that responds to the Center’s campaign #MeIncluyo to promote the end of homophobia and transphobia in the schools.
“Social networks are added to the days’ activities with the goal of communication that contributes to strengthening it, so we developed exchanges with Internet users,” said Vazquez Seijido.
The M.Sc. Manuel Vázquez Seijido, Deputy Director of the National Sex Education Centre, explained how the day of 17 May, and the days leading up to it, was planned to be devoted to the fight against homophobia around the world.
Vázquez Seijido explained that the event includes photographic exhibitions, film exhibitions, which this time, are developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay, master conferences, theoretical panels and the usual Conga every year, this year, on May 13, from La Piragua to the Pabellón Cuba, the founding site of the Campaign.
“Social networks are added to the activities of this day with a aim of communication that contributes to strengthen it, we developed exchanges with Internet users,” said Vazquez Seijido.
“We must think that what we are doing from Cenesex in terms of contributions of fundamental rights, and implies a shared responsibility that is located in all areas of society,” he concluded.
Grandparents’ Tales
Grandparents’ Tales
By Lázaro Fariñas
Posted: Monday 07 May 2018 | 07:06:53 PM
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
I don’t think it’s elegant or attractive to make up personal stories. I think that everyone’s life is their own and private, and if it is ever told, it should be told by others. I don’t know, then, why I’m writing this commentary. Am I getting old? Is it nostalgia for another time? Or do I feel very satisfied with what I did during one stage of my life and I want to talk about it?
At the end of the 1980s, I wrote articles for various publications in Latin America. The Prensa Libre of Costa Rica and the Nuevo Diario of the Dominican Republic were my favorites, and I sent my weekly comments to those media outlets. I never suffered any censorship. It was published just as I sent it, not one comma would be changed. It was not easy to write from abroad to be read in other countries, considering that it was for different idiosyncrasies, ways of thinking and points of view that I sent my opinions. I have to confess, without fear of being pedantic, that I was very well-received by those readers who had few interests in common with me.
Already in 1989, and due to the beginning of the collapse of the socialist camp in Europe, the media in Miami began to open up to me. I began writing articles frequently in El Nuevo Herald of Miami, and was a frequent guest on local television and radio talk shows.
Since the troglodytes of the anti-Cuban right in this city were sure that the fall of the revolutionary government of Cuba was imminent, they dared to give a voice to people who thought differently. At that time, I became an integral part of a daily television program called Debate, where I shared space with two journalists who thought differently from me and always, in addition, with the participation of guests from the far right, who wanted to measure strength with me. Once again, without wanting to be pedantic again, they would come for wool and come out shorn.
In that program, I debated with the cream of the Miami right: heads of counterrevolutionary organizations, “vertical fighters” and coffee and milk leaders were my different opponents. Of course, the two journalists who accompanied me on the show were also my opponents.
When the USSR collapsed, I stopped participating in the program. The real reason was because I got tired of having to wear a necktie every day to go argue with idiots.
Although I was invited regularly to different spaces like this throughout that decade and half of the next, the atmosphere was no longer pleasant. I was increasingly tense and hostile, the more the threats, the more violent the attacks, not only from the directors of those programs but also from the public to whom they opened the phone lines to insult me. Actually, I had enough intelligence, cunning and patience to get around the insults, which, as the saying goes, came in one ear and came out the other; that is, they slipped out the other, for, as is commonly said, to foolish words, deaf ears.
But to continue participating in those media brought with it an enormous sacrifice. In order to defend myself correctly from those verbal attacks, I had to pay attention to what they said on the other programs. I had to hear them every day. I didn’t care about personal offenses, but having to tune in to them was a different matter. The time came when it was like self-flagellating or digesting vomit just for the sake of vomiting.
I remember that when the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, resigned as President of the Council of State due to health problems, I sent a note to Cubadebate wishing the Commander a speedy recovery. A few days later I was invited to a TV show and they read the note I had sent as if I were being caught in the crowd. I remember telling the director of that program and the journalist who was with her that she not only wanted Fidel to recover from his illness, but also wanted him to return to his post soon.
I have always said, written and done what I believed, I have always been consistent with what I thought.
I was a teenager during Batista’s time, not ten years old when Fulgencio entered Camp Columbia with his gorillas. I did everything I could against him. When after, 1959 I disagreed with some revolutionary measures, I opposed them and left Cuba.
When my homeland was left alone due to the disappearance of the Soviet Union, I began to travel to the island regularly and had the opportunity to meet three or four times with Fidel, a man I always respected and of whom I always publicly affirmed in Miami that he was the island’s best and most faithful defender.
World Orgasm Day
By Tania Rendón Portelles A CubaNews translation. PLENITUDE, ACN Section Perhaps the answer to all your ailments comes by prescription, and do not be alarmed if in this case the doctor prescribes an orgasm, especially when surveys and studies show that a high percentage of women simulate the climax with their partner, which undermines psychological well-being. Multiple questions, in this sense, have troubled scientists for years, since why they are different between men and women, and their most controversial question in the evolution of human sexuality, whether or not the female orgasm is a functional adaptation. Although there is a lot of research to reach a biological or neurophysiological consensus, the female orgasm has yet to carry the burden of a few myths; however, achieving it or not in a sexual act is also a necessity for women. There is something that distinguishes these studies related to sex and sexuality, and it is precisely that pleasure and health go hand in hand, because climax stimulates the main areas of the brain; hence it is considered very appropriate to find possible therapeutic uses of vaginal stimulation. How sexual pleasure can help in the treatment of patients with anxiety, depression or addictions, the scientific answers in this area are directed, and the most interesting thing is that the investigations foresee the benefits on other ailments. However, there is much more, and that is that this activity, recommended several times a week, can bring relief to other problems. According to research, these physical and chemical reactions could have major implications for a person’s health, including treatment of certain diseases. To illustrate this point further, a study at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that people who reach orgasm have 30 percent more activated production of an antibody that helps strengthen the immune system. New York doctor Barry Komisaruk showed that by introducing a patient to the soundboard to analyze the effects of orgasm on the brain, they are similar to the stimuli generated by chocolate, nicotine, cocaine, in a region of the brain called the pleasure zone. According to the expert, the reason he became interested in female orgasm was that he found evidence that vaginal stimulation has the ability to block pain, without even needing to reach orgasm. Therefore, so necessary, moreover, to learn to assume and live sexuality fully, women must be able to have their space to explore themselves and know what is important and specific for them in order to achieve orgasm. Pretending, which in many cases has to do with women’s insecurity and emotional dependence, or with a foolish “instinct” to raise one’s partner’s self-esteem by making him believe that he is the best of all possible lovers, attempts to live in harmony with himself. Having the confidence to say or ask for what you want is a right for women, and also to insist that your partner is concerned about giving you the right ecstasy, because sexuality and individuality have their own nuances and rhythms and everyone must recognize which are yours. The councillor of the municipality of Esperantina, Brazil, must be thanked for having promoted the celebration of the World Day of the Female Orgasm, and by law, every 9th of May, they had to make an effort to ensure that their partner could achieve it, although this was later changed to 8th of August, the official date. From that particular beginning, women’s organizations around the world began to promote the event to encourage others to enjoy their sexuality and leave taboos behind. The celebration has now been extended to countries such as Denmark, Norway, Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Peru. Denmark and Norway, for example, pay tribute to women from different eras who went against cultural prejudices and mandates. Meanwhile, in Norway it was declared a holiday, and in Denmark orgasm is mandatory. If it is not fulfilled on that day, the man is fined one year’s abstinence under the supervision of a female police officer. Fortunately, thanks to these campaigns, which, although they may seem extremist, have undoubtedly favored women and have been the starting point for such a relevant issue, many consider that female ejaculation or orgasm is far from being a myth and that it only takes one good lover to achieve it. But the most important thing will still be to open understanding to sexual well-being and to be assertive, in this case to say what pleases you in bed. (Tania Rendón Portelles, ACN) Spanish audio available at this address: trp/trp/jorge/jagm 18 08:55 Por Tania Rendón Portelles PLENITUD, sección de la ACN Quizás la respuesta a todos sus padecimientos venga por receta médica, y no se alarme si en este caso el doctor le prescribe un orgasmo, más cuando encuestas y estudios demuestran que un porcentaje elevado de féminas simulan el clímax con su pareja, lo que atenta contra el bienestar psicológico. Múltiples preguntas, en este sentido, han inquietado a los científicos por años, desde por qué son diferentes entre el hombre y la mujer, y su cuestión más polémica en la evolución de la sexualidad humana, si el orgasmo femenino es o no una adaptación funcional. Aunque hay muchas investigaciones para llegar a un consenso biológico o neurofisiológico, el orgasmo femenino aún tiene que llevar consigo la carga de unos cuantos mitos; sin embargo, alcanzarlo o no en un acto sexual constituye para las mujeres, también, una necesidad. Hay algo que distingue a estos estudios relacionados con el sexo y la sexualidad, y es precisamente que placer y salud van de la mano, porque el clímax estimula las principales áreas del cerebro; de ahí que se considere muy oportuno encontrar posibles usos terapéuticos de la estimulación vaginal. Hacia cómo el placer sexual puede ayudar en el tratamiento de pacientes con ansiedad, depresión o adicciones, van encaminadas las respuestas científicas en este ámbito, y lo más interesante es que las indagaciones avizoran los beneficios sobre otros padecimientos. Sin embargo, hay mucho más, y es que esta actividad, recomendada varias veces por semana, puede generar alivio a otros problemas. De acuerdo con las investigaciones, estas reacciones físicas y químicas podrían tener grandes implicaciones en la salud de una persona, incluso servir de tratamiento para determinadas enfermedades. Para ilustrar más sobre este tema, un estudio realizado en la Universidad de Wilkes, en Pennsylvania, observó que las personas que llegan al orgasmo presentaban en un 30 por ciento más activada la producción de un anticuerpo que ayuda a fortalecer el sistema inmunológico. El doctor neoyorquino Barry Komisaruk demostró que al introducir a una paciente en la caja de resonancia para analizar los efectos del orgasmo en el cerebro, estos son similares a los estímulos generados por el chocolate, la nicotina, la cocaína, en una región del cerebro llamada zona del placer. Según refiere el experto, la razón por la que comenzó a interesarse por el orgasmo femenino fue que encontró evidencias de que la estimulación vaginal tiene la capacidad de bloquear el dolor, sin necesidad siquiera de alcanzar el orgasmo. Por tanto, tan necesario, además, para aprender a asumir y vivir la sexualidad de forma plena, las mujeres deben ser capaces de tener su espacio para explorarse y conocer qué es lo importante y específico para ellas en función de lograr el orgasmo. Fingir, que en muchas ocasiones tiene que ver con la inseguridad femenina y la dependencia emocional, o con un insensato \”instinto\” de levantar la autoestima a su pareja haciéndole creer que es el mejor de los amantes posibles, atenta contra vivir en armonía consigo mismo. Tener la confianza de decir o pedir cómo se quiere es un derecho para las mujeres, y también incidir en que su pareja se preocupe por darle el éxtasis adecuado, pues la sexualidad y la individualidad poseen sus matices y ritmos y cada uno debe reconocer cuáles son los suyos. Habrá que agradecerle al concejal del municipio de Esperantina, Brasil, el haber impulsado la celebración del Día Mundial del Orgasmo Femenino, y por ley, cada nueve de mayo, debían realizar un esfuerzo para que su pareja llegara a conseguirlo, aunque tiempo después se cambió al ocho de agosto, fecha oficial. A partir de ese particular comienzo, organizaciones de mujeres en todo el mundo empezaron a promover la efemérides para alentar a otras a disfrutar de su sexualidad y dejar atrás los tabúes. La celebración se ha extendido ya a países como Dinamarca, Noruega, España, México, Argentina y Perú. En Dinamarca y Noruega, por ejemplo, se rinde homenaje a las féminas de distintas épocas que fueron en contra de los prejuicios y mandatos culturales. Mientras, en Noruega fue declarado como día feriado, y en Dinamarca el orgasmo es obligatorio. De no cumplirse ese día, el hombre resulta multado con un año de abstinencia vigilada por una mujer policía. Por suerte, gracias a estas campañas, que aunque parezcan extremistas, sin dudas han favorecido a la mujer y ha sido el punto de comienzo en tal relevante tema, no pocos consideran que la eyaculación femenina u orgasmo está muy alejada de ser un mito y que solo hace falta un buen amante que lo consiga. Pero lo más importante seguirá siendo abrir el entendimiento al bienestar sexual y ser asertivos, en este caso para decir lo que complace en la cama. (Tania Rendón Portelles, ACN) Audio disponible en esta dirección: https://radioteca.net/userprofile/ain_cuba/ trp/trp/jorge/jagm 18 08:55
Female Orgasm by Prescription?
Edited by Walter Lippmann.[graphic added by translator.]
trp lm meb 18
https://radioteca.net/userprofile/ain_cuba/
Orgasmo femenino por prescripción médica
trp lm meb 18
Homophobia Causes School Dropouts
Homophobic harassment causes school dropouts in Cuba, study shows
An investigation gives details on how homo and transphobic bullying operates in Cuban schools, the theme of the annual program of activities that closes on May 18.
By Inter Press Service Cuba Editors
May 8, 2018
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews
The study identified as times of greatest risk of bullying, school dismissal, school entry and exit, time between classes and recess in the playground. Photo: Jorge Luis Baños/ IPS
Havana, May 8 – Transgender people and lesbian women reported dropping out of school due to bullying, revealed a retrospective research on homophobia and transphobia in schools conducted by the government’s National Sex Education Center (Cenesex).
Conducted by a group of five authors, the exploratory and retrospective study on homophobic and transphobic violence in the school career of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex (LGBTI) activists is the basis for the eleventh edition of the Cuban Days Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which for the second year focuses on schools.
According to the report, to which IPS had access, Cenesex researchers surveyed 90 adults from community social networks accompanied by the Cuban state institution, from Havana, Villa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.
The schooling of the population studied was concentrated in secondary education and, at the time of the research, 25 people were in higher education, mostly gay men.
Dropping out of school
However, 22 subjects indicated that they had dropped out of school at some point in their school career and only nine returned to school, most of whom were trans people seeking to complete high school.
The average age of dropout was concentrated at 16.6 years of age at the end of secondary school, with a majority being transgender people.
Of the 22 people who reported dropping out of school, 13 claimed that the decision was linked to the situations of violence they were subjected to in the school environment, an experience that prevailed among trans people and lesbian women.
Taunts and insults were the most frequent manifestations of harassment recalled by respondents, followed by threats, physical abuse, ignoring and stealing their belongings.
“There is no place in the school environment that escapes the phenomenon,” the report distinguished, identifying as moments of greatest risk the exit and entry to school, the time between classes and recess in the playground.
According to the study, the bathrooms and shelters were the spaces with the highest incidence of acts of abuse inside the schools, with verbal attacls that could be accompanied by physical violence.
The response of educational institutions focused on the change of educational status or the isolation of victims, the report said.
The researchers emphasized that the measures implemented could be considered a form of revictimization, since they impacted on those who suffered harassment and not on those who committed it.
Who are they, anyway?
As the perpetrators of the violence or harassment, the students themselves dominated by a large margin, followed by the teaching staff, support staff and relatives of the victims.
Support networks within the school were virtually non-existent, according to the research, which found a tendency to normalize situations of violence.
The support, when it happened, came from students who were intervening to stop the abuse. The attitude of the teaching staff was aimed at silencing the facts and placing the blame on the victims, the sample studied reported.
The people affected decided not to report violence due to homophobia and transphobia, either because they did not feel prepared to make their sexual orientation public, or because they did not feel ready to report the immobility of the teaching staff, or because they feared the consequences of double stigmatization.
Faced with violent situations, the mechanisms most often used by victims were to ignore what they were told, to isolate themselves, to try not to draw attention to themselves, or to respond aggressively.
The homophobic and transphobic violence experienced had an impact on the mental health of the victims, the study said.
Fears, fear of people’s reaction when reporting, poor school performance and rejection of school were some of the consequences observed.
However, the report argued that when research participants reflect on and evaluate these stages of their lives, they report that such situations have had a positive influence over time because they have strengthened their character.
Conclusions
The study concludes that homophobic and transphobic violence in the school setting reflects homophobia and social transphobia in Cuba.
The return to school and the recomposition of the victims’ life projects is an indicator of change for Cuban society and schools, the report said.
Raising the awareness of youth organizations to function as support networks for situations of violence in the school environment and strengthening the training of teachers and support staff for the prevention of homophobic and transphobic bullying are recommendations of the study.
It also suggests that educational authorities strengthen monitoring of the places where homophobic and transphobic violence is most prevalent.
Universal and free access to education and health, as well as the principles of equality established, are conquests that are endorsed in the current Constitution (1976), in its articles 39 and 50, stated the researchers in the introduction of the study.
However, in its opinion, the reduction of homophobia and transphobia to which lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people on the Caribbean island are exposed remains to be achieved. (2018)
Priorities for the LGBTI Community
My list of priorities for the LGBTI community or An interview at Sputnik
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
During the Days Against Homophobia and Transphobia, the interest of the international media in hearing the opinions and expectations of those of us who advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights in Cuba is growing exponentially.
My new Facebook profile photo.
A colleague who works for the Russian publication Sputnik asked me to comment on the response of Cuban society and its institutions to the educational and advocacy work of the past decade, the progress made, and the issues to be resolved.
Before reproducing here the interview that resulted from this exchange, I would like to complement it with a few ideas that, due to the necessary journalistic synthesis, were left out when editing this text.
On the reactions to the debate on how to deal with discrimination on the grounds of homophobia and transphobia, I would just like to emphasize that the Cuban people have a great sense of social justice, and I would like as a rule to be better at this aspect of human rights too, so that they want to listen to arguments, argue, confront their fears and concerns, and – in the end – understand and grow.
Among the advances I listed, I would also like to rescue the articulation of networks of LGBTI activists – and which also include many heterosexual people in solidarity with our rights – which contributes to the visibility and promotion of these issues.
Finally, in relation to the points to be resolved, Sputnik only included the recognition of homoparental families and their legalisation by marriage or another similar legal form, although my list of priorities was a little longer and more complex.
I will now list those other aspects which I also consider to be still unresolved, and on which we will have to continue to insist in the coming years:
Specific protection against homophobic and transphobic violence and harassment in the Penal Code.
Recognition of gender identity without the need for genital reassignment or court rulings through the Civil Code.
The possibility of assisted reproduction for lesbian couples and the right to adoption for homosexual couples in general.
Affirmative policies to increase access to education and work for trans people.
Non-exclusion of any type of employment, including the armed forces.
Improvement of the procedures for the actions of the police and other institutions guaranteeing socialist legality in order to avoid discrimination on these grounds.
Implementation of curricular and extracurricular programs based on a comprehensive sexuality education that provides teachers, students and families with scientific tools to confront bullying and school violence due to homophobia and transphobia.
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, SPUTNIK’S INTERVIEW
Cuban discussions against homophobia and transphobia
HAVANA (Sputnik) – The 11th edition of the Program against Homophobia and Transphobia, which will be held in Cuba until 18 May, encourages discussion on the rights of the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex (LGBTI) community, Cuban journalist and activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz told Sputnik.
“The (Cuban) population knows and discusses this problem, and is eager to receive information about it; there are opinions in favor, and others not so much, that are still related to ancestral prejudices, scientific ignorance and cultural obstacles, but in general the trend seems positive to me,” said Rodríguez Cruz.
The current edition of the program, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the National Sex Education Center (Cenesex), directed by the daughter of former president Raúl Castro, sexologist Mariela Castro, shows that Cuban society has responded to these meetings with great sensitivity, according to the activist.
“As we enter the second decade of this educational initiative, the issue is already on the Cuban political and public agenda,” he said.
In his opinion, “it is enough to follow the discussions that take place in the journalistic information about these days in the digital media and social networks on the internet, where people comment on their doubts, dissagrements and arguments in favor of respecting LGBTI rights, to appreciate the richness and honesty of the discussion. It ranges a position of wanting to know more, to where many more LGBTI people already participate with visible empowerment”, he stressed.
From the institutional point of view, “it is a strength to have Cenesex, which leads not only these days, but the entire sexual health and education program in the country throughout the year, on multiple topics,” he said.
This makes it possible to coordinate responses with other central government agencies, civil society organizations, universities and scientific and research centres.
“In the last decade, the confrontation with discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was progressively understood and supported by the (ruling) Communist Party of Cuba, which explicitly included it in its most important governing documents,” Rodríguez Cruz said.
“This facilitates discussion within society and its institutions, without this implying absolute understanding by all party militants and people who have responsibilities in decision-making structures of the State and the Government, and who are not immune to the misunderstandings, prejudices and resistances of a non-negligible part of our citizens,” he stressed.
In his opinion, the main advance “is the widespread understanding that homophobia and transphobia constitute an anti-value, something that is not good, is wrong, and therefore, very few individuals assume it as an unbridled position”.
“Even people with prejudices or discriminatory behavior towards the LGBTI community claim to be neither homophobic nor transphobic,” said the activist.
From the political point of view, the inclusion of the principle of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the Conceptualization of the Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development and in the Strategic Development Plan until 2030 is the main success, according to Rodríguez Cruz.
“Another milestone was the approval in 2013 of the Labor Code, the first Cuban law that expressly protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation, in this case, in the workplace,” he explained.
In Cuba, there is free, specialized care for transgender people for psychological support, modification of their bodies and genital reassignment when they want it, something that “is also a significant result whose implementation dates back to 2008,” he said.
Unfortunately, however, “there are many more remaining issues,” he said.
“Further progress will have to be made in the implementation of legal norms and public policies that guarantee equal rights for LGBTI people, in areas such as the recognition of the families we constitute and their legalisation through marriage or another similar legal forms,” he said.
LGBTI activist hopes that some of these issues will come up during the debates and proposals that will accompany the already announced process of reforming the Constitution, and others will require further work of argumentation and elaboration.
“It is foreseeable that advancing in these goals of equity will imply contradictions, steps forward and even possible specific setbacks, depending on the nature and preparation of the political leaderships, the social consensus that we reach through educational work and the strength of the social activism that we are capable of promoting,” he concluded.
In the first decades after the Cuban Revolution, homosexuality was declared a deviation incompatible with the revolutionary process, and it was only in the late 1990s that the taboo on homosexuality was weakened in public debate.
Who is Paquito?
I am Paquito, from CUBA; I am a Marti follower and a an author; I am a communist and gay journalist; I am a convinced and superstitious atheist; I am the father of a son whom I have adored and have been a partner for fifteen years with a seronegative man who loves me; I have been an AIDS patient since 2003 andam a survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for more than twelve years; I am a university professor and a student of life; a follower of Cuban economic issues and a passionate devourer of universal literature; an incontinent and belligerent moderate; a friend of my friends and a compassionate friend of my enemies; often wrong and never repentant; a hardened and eternal enthusiastic optimist; alive and kicking; in short, another ordinary man who wants to share his story, opinions and desires with you…
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