LGBT 42
Beyond Just Saying ¨No¨
Beyond Just Saying “No”
By David Brooks, US correspondent for Mexico’s LA JORNADA daily
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Danica Roem became the first trans woman elected to a legislative position in the United States. Photo taken of Rosa Sheep.
Faced with the increasingly obscene and dangerous political landscape in this country, we hear responses that are moving from the simple no to Trump and his agenda, to something that could generate a progressive change in this country.
The most recent state and local elections in various parts of the country held on November 7 were what some expected, wished, prayed for … that is, a first warning of what could be a wave of repudiation and even progressive change through the the polls in the intermediate elections (federal legislative and several governorships) in 2018 and through new, or renewed, decentralized but allied social movements.
Not only did the Democrats sweep away Republicans in states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and others, but many of the electoral winners were not only Democrats but progressives, and in many cases these victories had a tinge of divine vengeance.
For example, Lee Carter, a marine veteran of the Iraq war, who identified himself as a democratic socialist, defeated a Republican to take his place in the lower house of Virginia, and celebrated that night by inviting everyone to sing Solidarity Forever, the hymn of trade union movement.
Also winning a seat in that same chamber wasa Danica Roem, defeating a Republican who had promoted anti-transgender measures and who had declared himself the main anti-homosexual in the state; She is now the first transgender state legislator in the country. Elizabeth Guzman and Hala Ayala became the first Latinas to become state legislators in Virginia’s history.
In Hoboken, New Jersey, the new mayor is Ravinder Bhalla, a Sikh lawyer, who declared: I am everything Trump hates: a dark man in a turban, and a proud American with the knowledge to stop his assault on the values of our country. . In Helena, Montana, the progressive Wilmot Collins is not only the first African-American to be mayor in the history of the state, but is a refugee from Liberia who won against the Republican mayor who opposed to the entry of refugees to this country.
In Philadelphia, perhaps the most radical district attorney in the country, Larry Krasner, civil rights lawyer, fierce critic of the massive incarceration in this country and who has represented Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street activists was elected. In the Atlantic County commissioner race in New Jersey, Ashley Bennett defeated the Republican in that position; She decided to challenge him at the polls after he via Facebook if they would return home in time to cook their. dinners.
Braxton Winston, who won a seat in the city council of Charlotte, North Carolina, is an activist whose image went viral: his fist held high in front of a battalion of riot police before being arrested in a demonstration against the death of an African-American at the hands of police. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the next mayor will be progressive Tim Keller, who replaces the outgoing conservative Republican.
The progressive triumphs were remarkable, as they offered more evidence of a growing sector within the Democratic Party outside the centrist leadership. Electoral organizations such as the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) together with the growing diaspora of the support movement for the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders (still the most popular national politician in the polls), Our Revolution and new networks as Indivisible, they were key to generating these triumphs.
But it was also the result of new alliances between social groups, especially immigrant organizations that promoted candidates who directly faced the xenophobic policies of pro-Trump Republicans and other civil rights defense organizations such as Black Lives Matter, along with organizations defending the rights of women and environmentalists.
What happened in the November elections with hundreds of progressive local and state candidates is the beginning of a wave (…) a massive repudiation of Donald Trump, said Joe Dinkin of the Working Families Party. Independent experts, such as the influential Cook Political Report, indicate that the polls, for now, indicate that a political wave in favor of the Democrats is being glimpsed in 2018, implying that they could retake control of one, and even both houses of Congress.
The wide range of active resistance against Trump is showing its potential to go beyond being just opposition to the populist and at the same time plutocratic right-wing agenda and pushing forward a progressive agenda both at the polls and in the social sphere, where some claim it is growing a movement of many movements, varied and decentralized, as described by LA Kaufman in The Guardian. He argues that, in addition to established progressive organizations that have seen their membership grow (as in the case of Working Families and DSA), an impressive number of local grassroots groups have flourished -but at the same time, adding to national networks as Indivisible- that as a whole are six times bigger than the Tea Party (the most influential rightwing current within the Republican Party).
And not everything is manifested or has an end in the electoral field, with these movements -inmigrants, indigenous people, anti-war military veterans, defenders of freedoms and civil rights, environmentalists, professional athletes, artists, students, workers’ organizations and trade unions- fighting in several fronts, but with more and more solidarity among them, which makes them very dangerous for the guardians of power.
The “no” that defined the initial resistance to the seizure of power by Trump and his allies is now seeking to invent, to invite, to a yes.
(Taken from La Jornada )
They don’t feel sorry, should they?
They don’t feel sorry, should they?
Roberto Alfonso Lara Licenciado en Periodismo.
Graduado en la Universidad Central “Marta Abreu”
de Las Villas en 2013.
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Two women walk together, holding hands, appropriating the same space and right that society allows heterosexual couples. Two women love each other and do not hesitate to share their affection, under the warm sun of these days. Two women kiss in public –an innocent touch of lips– and around them the looks of contempt, the feeling of disgust, the scandalized common shame.
-I don’t know, wow, I would be sorry, warns another woman.
Prejudices persist and reality is responsible for challenging them. Every day it is more frequent to see the amorous self-assurance of two women (or men) in the street. They try to lead their lives in this way, naturally, like the rest of the people, without feeling discrimination and offense towards one or another relationship. But the more habitual the scene is, the more settled the phobia of the different. There are still many people who conceive and accept, in public, only one type of affection.
To love and show it openly through any caress, goes through a strongly patriarchal culture, which still recognizes as legitimate and obligatory the value system linked to heterosexuality. Censure the candid kiss between two females with the same arrogance that should admonish the kissing, almost pornographic, of two young people of the same or opposite sex in a park or corner of the city. What’s reprehensible, given the case, does not lie in the sexual condition of those who kiss, but in the impudent manner in which something so intimate is exhibited. However, the morality shared today is sometimes more condescending in the face of obscenity and less in the face of what differs from their beliefs.
The prevailing macho and homophobic tradition repudiates the expressions of affection between two lesbians, for many, the most hidden and marginalized population within homosexuality. The reactions and terms used to define them (“disgusting”, “filthy”, “repulsive”) are truly offensive and show how little literacy continues Cuban society on issues related to sexual and civic education.
For the psychologist and activist Norma Guillard, a decades-long defender of the rights of lesbian women in Cuba, the situations of discrimination and rejection that involve them represent another example of gender-based violence in the country. This makes it difficult to face “lesbophobia” in the family and social spheres; more when there is not even a systematic observation about their conflicts, nor is sexuality promoted from an early age that allows people to face, with the necessary self-esteem, the condition in which they wish to live and be happy.
However, the matter goes beyond the institutional and legal efforts in favor of the rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transsexuals and Intersex people (LGBTI), even in the nations where they have been recognized. Very recently, last October in Buenos Aires, Argentina –considered one of the most “gayfriendly” capitals in Latin America– Mariana Gómez, married to Rocío Girat, was arrested for kissing in public with her wife, in a clear attack on her sexual orientation The fact gave rise to protests against the obvious episode of lesbophobia.
If kissing is, as we know, a liberating and exciting act, its enjoyment in public, in a measured and tender way, should be assumed without sexist and discriminatory questions. Nobody is given the power to decide who should do it or not, but the possibility of being more tolerant, sensitive and respectful of the difference.
Roberto Alfonso Lara Licenciado en Periodismo.
Graduado en la Universidad Central “Marta Abreu”
de Las Villas en 2013.
Donate Blood, Not Prejudice
Donate Blood, Not Prejudice
By LISANDRA GÓMEZ GUERRA.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The Autoexclúyete [Self-Exclusion] Campaign seeks to guide people on the health requirements they must have so their blood can be used
At the Sancti Spíritus Provincial Blood Bank, behind the desk of the receptionist, there is a poster that, rather than informing, generates noise, misinterpretation and, above all, segregation.
Seeking to explain the health requirements that a person must have to become a blood donor, the poster warns: “There are individual behaviors and actions the law does not prohibit, but that can be a disease-transmission risk among those who practice them. It is recommended that these people self-exclude, that is, they should abstain from donating their blood. Among these practices are: homosexuality, bisexualism, sexual promiscuity …”
This is worrisome because the fact that an institution belonging to the health sector expresses such misconception on the diversity of tastes, behaviors and inclinations of human sexuality is indicative of underlying discrimination.
According to Graduate Nurse Víctor González, Deputy Director of the Center, the Autoexclúyete Campaign seeks to guide the population on what health requirements they must have for their blood to be used. Thus, everyone should be able to tell whether they are eligible or not to donate blood. But, more than that, the poster reveals that at this workplace, in the 21st Century, several myths and misconceptions are still held.
Historically, homosexuals have been blamed for the emergence and spread of HIV. Several religions maintain that it is a punishment for going against nature. For years, however, science has been responsible for denying this and, although it is true that AIDS is more common in men than in women, it has also been shown that its spreading was linked to the widespread habit of not using condoms.
It is also known that in Africa –the geographic region where the disease began spreading– the first infections were among heterosexual persons. The truth is that AIDS has no face.
This wrong perception is also linked to the prejudice that the homosexual population is promiscuous. It is striking that, for the World Health Organization, a promiscuous person is “one who has more than two sexual partners in a year”. So the label fits homosexuals, bisexuals, heterosexuals, transsexuals and as many denominations as we would care to mention.
Rather than worrying about how a person finds pleasure, it would be advisable that the Provincial Blood Bank maintain its excellent work. To this end, there are some provisions –a sort of ABC– ranging from detection by primary health care services of those who wish and are eligible to donate blood, to the analyses of blood samples to corroborate the quality and type of blood, whoever the person is.
The real risks are not in what we are, but in the responsibility (or lack of it) with which we face our lives. Only free from stereotyped conceptions can we live in a more just and less exclusionary world.
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Comments
10 Responses to “Donate blood, not prejudice”
- HABANERO says:
Incredible, as I read it I do not believe it … and what role has played in all this by the administration of the blood bank that has allowed such a poster ?? … UFF … attitudes like these leave a lot to be desired …
- Marta Marrón says:
Companions of Escambray:
With my mouth open I have been left to read the Public Health reply to this letter, published in today’s print edition. I had not really read the commentary from the journalist Lisandra Gómez and ran to see her on this medium. Why have not they put that reaction here already? I hope to see you soon and, if you can, to include this opinion below.
First of all I want to say that it is a very serious disrespect to the readers to send a press text so poorly worded. The lack of agreement, coordination in ideas and misuse of gerunds and other components of language are obvious. Incidentally, even the poster contains linguistic errors. And it has been there for years, according to them, without someone noticing not only the errors of form, but, above all, content!
The poster is very eloquent, well, it is enough to publish it alone, without comment, to realize that the letter sent by the sanitary authorities seeks only to protect itself from a correct criticism, but was eluded by them, since apparently they believe themselves infallible.
A few years ago, I think that in the middle of 2014, I read another similar reaction and I think it becomes worrisome that tendency to not accept the external valuations, more when in the eyes are mistaken.
I would recommend to those who wrote this document to contact the fellows of the Cuban Association of Social Communicators to give them a course on how to write, brainstorm ideas and, finally, communicate. I’m serious. So maybe they do not incur new mistakes other than that already denounced by the publication.
Finally I recommend you reread the letter of the companera Lisandra so that they realize that yes, they exclude instead of adding followers to the campaign of blood donation. And discriminate. The poster speaks for itself.
- Yudith says:
I, too, have been stunned by such a poster. If, as from journalism itself, we have tackled on other occasions, blood banks are rigorously analyzed before use, if Cuba is ever more advanced in methods and resources to ensure safe blood, if the fact that donations are made voluntarily contributes to that aspiration, what does the campaign of self-exclusion then respond to? Do they no longer have the necessary resources for a reliable quality test, or are they increasingly costly to the country and, therefore, is it expected that this measure will contribute to safer donations? This initiative is worrying, as well as others that have appeared in recent times, but are another matter.
- Leyaní says:
And who says that heterosexual people with a single partner can not be carriers of HIV, one responds to their sexual behavior, but what about the couple? What else do you do if you are gay, bisexual, straight or trans, autoexclúyete discriminates more, if you want to prevent: rapid testing is a method to detect HIV / AIDS.
- Claudia Yilén says:
What a shame to find such promotional banners like these. Apparently, we do not agree on promotion and propaganda, as close as May 17 and the day against homophobia. Thanks to whatever, we have in the world a profession called “journalism” that criticizes, values and educates. Good post
- Heidy says:
What communicator and designer could participate in the conception of this campaign? That is discrimination, segregation, an outrage and use of faculties that no institution can tell people to EXCLUDE to donate blood. I have donated blood repeatedly and have never been asked such things.
And the blood does not undergo a rigorous analysis to know if it is optimal or not? Or just for the word of the donors is approved ???
Congratulations to the journalist Lisandra.
- Eddy Caro Azoy, PhD says:
When I saw the misleading poster (let’s call it that), I wondered where they received the title that accredits them as health officials, those responsible for such nonsense (I included from who conceived the idea of the poster, who gave the campaign its name and even who approved it and put it on).
I came back to a country lost in geography (I think beyond the stone age) and I resisted thinking that in the country where I trained as a scientist there could be people so twisted, able to hide their homophobia and disguise it from ignorance, illiteracy, medical, epidemiological and other excesses that I prefer not to mention.
SELF-EXCLUDING !!! ??? but where it has seen similar and opprobrious nonsense !!! And such inadequate and erroneous arguments. Does this nurse not know about the very rigorous quality tests to which the donated blood is (donation by donation) before being released and declared fit for use? Or is that the hidden intention of “de-instruction” another.
Is it that we are going to return to a past that we have criticized so many times and that we have so often admitted the gravity of the mistakes made?
I wonder if there is a scientific advisor who reads what is going to be published in that institution or someone responsible for such nonsense to not be displayed on behalf of a health institution that is respected ?.
I am more relaxed if it is only a local initiative, wrong but perfectly correctable. If the evil has other dimensions, then it is still much more serious.
Thank you Lisandra Gomez Guerra for this article that expresses the feeling, concern and indignation of many who have wondered, baffled, if the program of Nursing Degree where our colleague Victor González graduated should be reviewed, completed or in case this Is optimal, then analyze the suitability of who holding a professional title acting as if it were not. THANKS also to the editorial board of this newspaper for putting objectivity and social justice on the side of reason.
I understand that my words may sound a bit strong and hopefully my opinion is not EXCLUDED (in the middle of this harmful campaign) to face the lack of objectivity and put the finger in the yaga of that old behavior that disguises homophobia with many masks and has made many bleed. THANK YOU!!
- Manuel delgado says:
I am glad that people are as prepared as you to analyze and that response so admirable, because, without offending anyone, and without ideology trastocada, has said the greatest truth, that in these times there are still people with such reasoning and even worse that there is a leader a little analyst and prepared that he did not give a stop to this stupidity, thanks to the journalist that I hope that comment has not brought consequences as usual in our country.
- Michael says:
I imagine that many are very worried about what is written on that poster, and others do not even count, it is not necessary to offend anyone if what is just read is enough to draw some conclusions, what a shame and then they say they know what they are talking about (I.e.
- Isbel Díaz Torres says:
We will denounce it internationally. If I could file a lawsuit with that institution, I would … but we already know that we are unprotected.
My Visit to the United States Embassy
My Visit to the U.S. Embassy or, My Stonewall Against the Blockade
By Francisco Rodriguez Cruz [from his blog] June 28, 2017
The closest thing I’ve ever seen of the United States was at a vantage point in Cuba from where we can see –quite far away– the unwanted Guantánamo Naval Base, in the eastern part of our country. I also got a bit close when I visited Canada, many years ago. Well, and from Mexico, not that long ago. That is, from the two bordering nations, although I did not cross the border. But this time I have stepped –technically speaking– on US territory, on my first visit to the Embassy of the world empire, here in Havana.
Since I do not have other clothes with phrases in English, I used this discreet T-shirt that says UNBLOCK CUBA
The motive was noble, though; and the results were positive. I was invited –as one in a small group of ten people whom the Embassy identifies as activists for the rights of the LGBTI community– to participate, this June 28, in a worldwide interactive electronic chat on thr occasion of the Gay Pride Month.
I found it a pleasant surprise that, in times like these, the State Department organized a panel on “Perspectives and voices to face hate crimes”. There were two interesting panelists and a moderator who were in New York and Washington. It may be a good sign that President Trump cannot turn back everything that the American people have already conquered.
Beberly Tillery, executive director of the New York Project against Violence, and Brett Parson, who oversees the Special Links Division of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, responded to questions from activists, officials and other participants who had been invited to the United States embassies in Chile, Canada, Tunisia, Malawi, and Ecuador, among other countries.
To our delight, this exchange –that lasted just over an hour and a quarter– included one of the many questions we had sent from Havana.
On closing, there was a brief summary where there seemed to be consensus on the similarity of many of the episodes of discrimination, violence and homophobic and trans-phobic crimes suffered by LGBTIQ people in the world. This included in the nations that have advanced the most in public policies and specific legislation on the topic.
For this reason, several participants pointed out the importance of maintaining a more fluid exchange of good practices between and within civil society and government institutions like the police.
In particular, I reiterated my old idea that the coincidences between Cuba’s and the United States’ policies in relation to the fight against homophobia and trans-phobia could be one of the means of rapprochement. Of course, with the proviso that the current administration rectifies its current backward standing, and there is an eventual rescue of the process of normalization of relations that President Obama began.
So far, this was a summary of the content of the meeting. Now, I’ll add a little bit of folklore, with my most personal expressions and impressions.
On the way out, I hurriedly took this selfie, because it is not allowed to bring in cameras or cell phones.
I cannot deny that I was curious to see the place; to nose around the environment of that building so mysterious and emblematic in our history and city. A building that the majority of the Cuban people only see from outside, mostly when we march along the Malecon or rally at the Anti-Imperialist Tribunal to protest against successive US governments.
Therefore, to keep the tradition, I thought it would be OK to take part in the dialogue, but also to make a statement –even more so if this time we were remembering the disturbances of Stonewall: an act of rebellion by definition. And so I found a nice red pullover –special for the occasion– with the phrase #UNBLOCK CUBA. This was an initiative that some compatriots present welcomed.
I must acknowledge the politeness and professionalism of the diplomats who received us: Messrs. Derek Wright, Political Secretary, and Justen A. Thomas, First Secretary with the Press and Culture Office. They courteously ignored my T-shirt. I was left with the concern that –maybe because of it– a group photo was not taken. I had been so looking forward to have them pose by my side!
I was also a bit disappointed, because in that place –where I thought I would enjoy fantastic air conditioning– full of that freedom of expression they keep throwing at us, I was not allowed to bring in my cell phone or my digital camera. And they also made a number of suggestions on what to say or not about this encounter in our blogs and social media network profiles. By the way, I did not understand very well what they said, and for that reason, I may unintentionally fail to comply.
But since I’m a law-abiding person – even if it is US law– I give you my word that I tried to behave as best as possible, even when, at the door, a security guard –apparently not very patient with my awkwardness trying to empty all my pockets– asked me if it was the first time I’d been to the place. I smiled at him and said, “It shows, doesn’t it!”
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
From Machistas to Anti-Homophic Vigilantes
From Machistas to Anti-Homophobic Vigilantes
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive to the daily POR ESTO! of Mérida, Mexico.
Political organizations and religious institutions of all kinds, tones, and colors have tried to legislate about what have been (or are) the most appropriate “carnal relations.”
An investigative work on homosexuality in several countries, by University of New Mexico professor emeritus of sociology, Nelson Valdés, states that the Bolsheviks in Russia criminalized homosexuality for a short time in 1922. But it has been a general rule that both communists, socialists and capitalist parties always avoid defining guidelines on sexual orientation.
Valdés points out that in the United States, the change came just on December 6, 2011, when US foreign policy manifested itself in defense of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender “rights” in some countries of the world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then announced a global LGBT policy, although she acknowledged that she was talking about this subject “knowing that my country’s record on human rights for homosexuals is far from adequate.”
Until 2003, it was a crime in the United States to be LGBT. Many homosexuals in the United States suffered violence and harassment. For some – among them many young people – harassment and exclusion continue to be daily realities. “Hence, as in all nations, we have a lot of work to do to protect human rights in our country,” Secretary of State Clinton said in a December 2011 statement.
His new international policy promised to open the borders of the United States to give aid and protection to the LGBT refugees and asylum seekers … as long as they came from those countries of which Washington demands regime change.
Practically, the United States had only added one more pretext for its intrusion into the internal affairs of those countries that defied American power.
Shortly afterward, in the mid-1970s, the media “influenced” by Washington within their own nation and around the world unleashed a great campaign on the alleged discrimination against homosexuals in Cuba.
Simultaneously, a media crusade was initiated to demonstrate that “the roots of homophobia in Cuba were in the revolution of Fidel Castro and the new Cuban communist leadership.” In 2000, the Cuban leader admitted his personal responsibility for not having promptly corrected the phenomenon, derived from the stubborn policies of years before the revolution.
Until 1973 homosexuality was considered a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and other related professions throughout the hemisphere shared similar attitudes. Homosexuality was considered until very recently a “deviation” and prohibited in the majority of the states of the United States. For its part, Cuba had inherited a macho culture because of long-standing attitudes, both in Spain and in the African cultures that contribute to its national identity.
However, in the last two decades, says Professor Nelson Valdes, the changes on issues of sexual identity and gender have been extraordinary. The Cuban media has played a systematic and concerted role in the education of the general population. Cinematography has been at the forefront in discussing these issues. In the last 13 years, Cuban television has more explicitly explored issues related to alternative sexual behavior.
The openness to openly gay behavior has not been limited to Havana alone. Homophobia is clearly in decline throughout the island as evidenced by the fact that gay and lesbian candidates are being elected to public office. A well-known foreign observer has pointed out that, in this area, “Cuba is much more liberal than the United States and Europe.”
What remains to be addressed is how it has been possible for a country characterized by such macho tendencies so entrenched in institutions, politicians, and national culture to have changed so much in the relatively short period of half a century and now that homophobia has become the enemy.
Indeed, the mainstream media and political and social leaders in the country have openly attempted to positively influence the population, in which some of the older people have tried to cling to the sexual and gender roles learned before the triumph Of the Cuban revolution.
Valdes highlights as a great achievement that Cubans have overcome the idea that machismo, manhood, and masculinity are the expressions of what defines a revolutionary. But, in my opinion, it is the awareness of the necessity of national unity for the defense of the revolution that has played an essential role in such a transcendental task for the progress of the human condition.
July 6, 2017.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Priests, friends and murdered
El País
Priests, friends and murdered
In five months time two Spanish priests have died violently in Cuba
By Mauricio Vicent
Havana – July 19, 2009
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Last New Year’s Eve, Spanish priests Isidro Hoyos, Mariano Arroyo and Eduardo de la Fuente had dinner together in the San Martin de Porres parish, in the workers’ neighborhood of Alamar, east of the Cuban capital. “A simple meal: vegetable soup, some chicken, nougat, and Spanish cider to celebrate”, remembers Isidro. Sharing a dinner on New Year’s Eve, he explains, “had become a tradition… “.
The three priests had been friends for years and the three were in Havana because of their religious vocation, but it was Mariano who put the idea of coming to Cuba in their heads. Mariano Arroyo Merino was the first one to arrive on January 19, 1997. Then Isidro Hoyos, in December 2000. Both were from Cantabria and knew each other since they were young.
Mariano had been a missionary in Chile. For 20 years he lived in that country, always in contact with the poorest [of the people]. Hoyos even became a lawyer for the Workers’ Commissions. He was a worker and a committed priest, for that reason when he arrived in Cuba he found it proper to take charge of the small parish of Alamar, a neighborhood built by the revolution in the ‘70s as the home of the New Man, and therefore without a church.
Eduardo de la Fuente began traveling to the island to substitute for Mariano and Isidro when they left on vacation. He did this for seven or eight years, until in 2006 he decided to stay permanently.
Eduardo, 61 years old, had a mysterious and violent death on February 13. He was found on a highway on the outskirts of Havana, stabbed and strangled. It caused a shock wave in the ecclesiastical world and it especially affected Mariano, who was also murdered later.
Mariano Arroyo was a Philosophy and Theology major from the Comillas Papal University, and a philosophy and literature graduate of the University of Madrid. He was not only a wise man; he was also “a humble, good and venturesome person”, according to those who knew him. “Father Mariano was very dear to us here, nobody had any grudge against him”, said one of the neighbors, who laments his death today in Regla, a neighborhood of Havana.
First, he was a parish priest at the Our Lady of Pilar church in the municipality of Cerro, from which he also assisted the congregation of Alamar. On occasions he made 20 kilometer trips there by bicycle and celebrated mass at people’s homes. In December 2004, Mariano took charge of the parsonage and the parish of the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Regla, on the other side of the Havana bay. He immediately stood out.
Regla is a parish with special characteristics because its Virgin is one of the most worshiped among the Afro-Cuban cults. The Virgin of Regla symbolizes the goddess Yemayá in these cults, ruler of the waters and the sea, the fundamental source of life. Mariano didn’t repudiate these beliefs, but rather he studied them thoroughly and tried to understand them. Many bishops invited him to their dioceses to give lectures on this subject. “Mariano was very learned and very understanding and he was valued more and more in the Cuban Church”, Isidro affirms.
On the dawn of last July 13th, exactly five months after the murder of Eduardo de la Fuente, somebody entered the parochial house where Mariano lived in Regla. Before dawn, a neighbor saw smoke coming out of the priest’s room and called for help. The one who entered to help him found the priest handcuffed, gagged, and with burns in the soles of his feet and hands, hit on the head and knifed.
The crime, or rather, the crimes against two priests in such a short space of time and on the same day of the month February 13 and July 13 , the fact that they were friends and that both were victims of violent attacks, generated numerous rumors. Mainly because in Cuba there is no crime chronicle and news is spread from mouth to ear. Some thought that the two crimes could be connected.
Isidro Hoyos himself admitted, shortly after hearing of Arroyo’s death, that he was afraid. “I am not superstitious, but yesterday was exactly five months after Eduardo’s death, and it seems the procedure is the same: torture, savagery… “.
And, he added, still excited: “The first one, the second… what is behind this? Who are they? What are they looking for? This is something the people in charge of the investigations need to clarify. Are they some kind of mafia? I don’t know “. But, he warned himself: “There are not two, without three.”
The following day in Spain, Agustín Arroyo, brother of the murdered priest, stated that “to steal it is not necessary to kill”. And, he suggested other possible causes: “In Cuba, priests are a nuisance. My brother was very much loved in the community, he had influence over the people and maybe that caused a certain mistrust.”
The Church had to take a stand on this and Cardinal Jaime Ortega himself discarded such arguments last Friday in the homily he gave during the Exequial Mass for Father Mariano Arroyo, denying any “anti-religious or anti-Spanish significance.”
In truth, it was the mystery and the secrecy surrounding the investigation of the first death, that of Eduardo de la Fuente, which fueled speculation. Neither the Church nor Spanish authorities revealed the results of the police investigation, even though they had conclusions, detainees and confessed perpetrators.
If truth be told, Father de la Fuente died at the hands of another man who was his significant other, and to whom the priest had passed himself off as a foreign CEO. This is why, in the Friday homily, the cardinal said that in his case, “the criminals ignored that they had killed a priest”. Police sources informed the Church and the [Spanish] Embassy of what had happened. They also informed them that the perpetrator and his accomplices had been captured and that because it was such a delicate matter they had treated it with the utmost discretion.
Priest Mariano Arroyo’s death was absolutely different. The motive of the crime was robbery, something more and more frequent on the island. The safe that Arroyo had in the house, which apparently had things of little value, was found open. Sources at the Church indicated that the murderer, already in custody, was the guardian of the parish, who acted in complicity with others.
In the homily in memory of Mariano Arroyo, Cardinal Jaime Ortega remembered the priest’s words explaining why he remained in the country: “The Cuban people have a warmth, a sympathy toward the Church and toward the priest in his search for God that, although they don’t know almost anything of religion, shows an interest and an avidity that is enthusiastic”. On Friday, people filled the cathedral of Havana and said goodbye to Mariano Arroyo with tears in their eyes and songs of love.
[At noon yesterday the remains of Arroyo arrived at the Madrid airport. The funeral one will take place this afternoon at Cabezón de la Sal (Cantabria)].
Unity Also in Diversity
Unity also in Diversity or Another May Day against Homophobia
By Francisco Rodriguez Cruz, from his blog
A CubaNews translation by Walter Lippmann.
Around half a hundred LGBTI activists and workers from the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) paraded again together with the Cuban people this May Day in front of the Plaza de la Revolución, in a demonstration that if Our strength is in unity, We also defend Unity in Diversity.
With large and small rainbow banners, signs of Me included – an allegory to the Cuban Day against Homophobia and Transphobia that begins next May 3 -, and t-shirts that identify the communication campaigns of Cenesex, we join together as already Is traditional in the block of Public Health workers.
In the gathering and en route to the Plaza de la Revolucion from early hours of the morning, sympathizers and activists of various nationalities, such as the Homosexual Community of Argentina (CHA), greeted us and conveyed their solidarity.
The networks of trans people and their families (Transcuba) and the Humanity for Diversity (HxD) network stood out for their participation, with the presence of members of the Oremis group, lesbian and bisexual women, among others that integrate community social networks Linked to Cenesex.
When we were ready to cross in front of the Plaza de la Revolucion a few minutes of eight in the morning, my son Javier called me on the cell phone, as I used to do at home on his 17th birthday, this May Day – He used to come with us to the parade-to tell me that he had just passed the platform along with the youth and student block.
Now we can say that the celebration of the Tenth Cuban Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia has began.
A Decade Against Homophobia
A Decade Against Homophobia, or, It Seems Like Yesterday
by Francisco Rodriguez Cruz, from his blog
A CubaNews translation by Walter Lippmann.
Time passes and people are getting old. Not me, of course. From next week we will be back in the center of the maelstrom of another Cuban Day against Homophobia, the tenth. Amazing.
It seems like it was yesterday when I was filled with astonishment and excitement at the Pabellón Cuba in 2008, and I listened for the first time to other gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transvestite people, speaking in public – and loudly – about what was always hidden before In Cuba: our lives and problems.
I did not dream at the time to have this blog – I was short a little more than a year and a half to its birth – nor could I assume that I would have the opportunity to approach first and be a part of the organizing committee of these celebrations from 2010.
With that experience, so intense that makes it difficult to discriminate between the greater relevance of one fact or another, I propose what will undoubtedly be an incomplete selection of moments or key contributions by each of the previous Cuban Conferences against Homophobia and Transphobia .
I must admit that, at the beginning, I thought of doing so only from my (bad) memory, as well as from a review of the texts I wrote in this blog and the photographs I had kept; But then I realized that was not enough.
Memories are often imprecise. I ran the risk of mixing some events and details from year to year. So I took the trouble to check each event with the reports of the Cuban and foreign press that I kept throughout these ten years.
I should also like to thank Dr. Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education, who agreed to review a first version of this chronological summary and made several pertinent suggestions to enrich it.
Although I tried to emphasize the elements of newness or rupture in each annual edition, it is very probable that even in this selection there are issues or nuances that someone might also consider important or central. I invite you to propose and add.
I am sure that we could enrich even more this brief tour for this first decade of the day, based on the experiences that each one keeps.
My humble intention is for everyone to remember and treasure for themselves, their first, most intimate or revealing participation in this endeavor, result of the work, persistence, creativity and daring of so many good people.
We will see each other from 3 to 20 May at the Tenth Cuban Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia.
- 2007:
- On May 17, a group of people from the LGBTI community walk from the National Center for Sex Education along with its director, Mariela Castro, and specialists from that institution to the 23rd and 12th capital city, where the American film Boys Don’t Cry, (1999) was shown. It was the first celebration in Cuba of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
- 2008:
- With the presence of Ricardo Alarcón, then president of the Cuban Parliament, the first Cuban Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia was opened, and where it would still be its main headquarters in Havana: Cuba Pavilion.
- The first Gala Against Homophobia in the Astral theater theater brought together dozens of transformista [crossdresser] artists, an unprecedented event in an “official” stage of the Island.
- It began the monthly cineclub Diferente cultural project, in led by journalist and critic Frank Padrón.
- 2009:
- Speaking at the Pavilion Cuba, Mariela said that “this day is part of a broader educational strategy to call attention to respect for free and responsible sexual orientation and gender identity.” She also explains the Conga’s position against homophobia in relation to other initiatives: “We did not make a gay march because gays are not the problem; The problem is homophobia,” said the director of the Cenesex
- They hold panels with specialists that address sexual diversity in the Cuban family.
- The National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba holds for the first time a day of activities at its headquarters, with the participation of important intellectuals, a space that continues until today.
- Diversity is natural: slogan that used the day in various media, such as t-shirts and posters. In the visual identity stood the posters with the phrase: Two equals also pair.
- 2010:
- Panel of activists from Cuba and other countries brings together in the La Rampa cinema a large audience of LGBTI people and their families who talked about the rights of that community.
- Cenesex experts provided training to officers of the Havana National Revolutionary Police (PNR) on how biases in police action affect gays, lesbians, transvestites and transsexuals.
- For the first time the Day leaves the capital, to carry out its central activities in the city of Santa Clara, with a transformista spectacle that closed Marta Abreu Street in front of the cultural center El Mejunje.
- 2011:
- The Karl Marx theater hosts for the first time the Gala against Homophobia, with a transformismo spectacle whose brilliance and originality surprised the public and had a wide repercussion in the international press.
- In the Student House of the University of Havana Mariela Castro exchanged with students and activists about respect for free and responsible sexual orientation and gender identity.
- In Santiago de Cuba, more than 450 students and professors at the Universidad de Oriente filled the campus theater to participate in a panel discussion with Mariela Castro along with other specialists and activists, who then had a lively debate.
- Extensive discussion between the population and LGBTI activists in Plaza Dolores and Plaza de Marte, in Santiago de Cuba.
- To the rhythm of the conga of Los Hoyos, hundreds of people rolled against the homofobia from the Plaza Dolores to the Place of Mars.
- Dr. Jorge Pérez presented in Santiago de Cuba his book Sida: confessions to a doctor, where he discusses the history of the HIV epidemic in the country and how stigma and discrimination contribute to homosexual persons.
- For the first time, one of the most visible slogans of this Conference was used: Humanity is diversity, which was accompanied by the expression: For sexual rights as human rights. The phrase: Homosexuality is not a danger, homophobia is also very important.
- 2012:
- Mariela announced at a press conference that for the first time in all provinces there would be activities on the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
- Students from the Latin American School of Medicine spoke with Mariela Castro in an intense multicultural debate in relation to free sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Panel of activists and conga by the Prado of Cienfuegos gathered hundreds of activists and general public.
- Cienfuegos’s former star pitcher, Yosvany Pérez Ruiz, intervened in a panel that took place at the University of Medical Sciences of that province, publicly acknowledged the existence of homosexual players within the national pastime and referred to the difficulties they face as a consequence Of the homophobia that prevails in this sport.
- Granma newspaper published the article Homophobia is what we must cure, in what would be the first non-informative gender work in the official organ of the Party on the occasion of the Day.
- 2013:
- With the motto Hogar is love, respect and inclusion, began the practice of dedicating the day in a biannual way to a specific theme, in this case the family.
- René González Sehwerert, one of the Five Cuban Heroes who suffered imprisonment in the United States for fighting terrorism, participated in activities of the Day and took part in the Gala. Since 2011, the Cuban LGBTI community has included in the Conga expressions of solidarity and demand of freedom for the Five.
- First Cuban Vice President, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, attended the Cuban Gala against Homophobia, in the largest sample of public political support for the Day by the State and the government.
- National and foreign media emphasized with amplitude slogans of the Conga: Socialism yes, homophobia no! And Unity in Diversity!
- First Sports Festival against Homophobia and Transphobia. It was inaugurated by Mariela and the then Inder president, Christian Jiménez Molina.
- Also participating in all activities were Lohana Berkins, a recognized trans activist from Argentina; And Adela (José Agustín) Hernández González, first trans delegate of Cuba by municipality of Caibarién.
- Activists with rainbow flags witnessed baseball game between Industriales and Ciego de Avila for the pass to the championship final, fact that transmitted the TV.
- One of the educational channels of Cuban television broadcast for the first time the gala against homophobia in the Karl Marx theater.
- 2014:
- VI Regional Conference of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (Ilgalac) in Varadero and Havana, the first major international event of LGBTI leaders that took place in the country.
- In Manzanillo participated in the festivities the popular artist Candido Fabré, who composed an exclusive dance music theme for the Journey.
- For the first time the Round Table of Cuban TV, one of its main informational spaces, dedicated a program to the Day, under the title La familia diversa.
- 2015:
- The celebrations of love began during the activities in the Cuba Pavilion, during which homosexual couples received the blessing of religious leaders from the United States, Canada and Cuba.
- The CENESEX prize – In Memoriam – was presented for the first time to Vilma Espín Guillois
- The Workers ‘Central of Cuba received for the first time in its headquarters, the Workers’ Palace, activists of the LGBTI community of Cuba and other countries, who shared and discussed together with specialists in labor law and leaders of the Cuban unions and Latin America and the Caribbean. Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, Secretary General of the CTC, presided.
- Trade unions participated for the first time in the now traditional conga against homophobia and transphobia in Havana, in response to the convening of the secretary general of the CTC, to address discrimination in labor spaces.
- Guateque campesino against homophobia in Las Tunas, where for the first time harmoniously coincided the celebrations of the Day and the Day of the Peasant.
- Creation of the slogan I include myself, as the center of the communication campaign on the Journey.
- Among the slogans that people chanted during the Conga, the media highlighted this time: all rights for all people!
- 2016:
- The conga against homophobia in Havana extended for the first time its traditional route by the Malecón, from the Piragua, until climbing by 23 to the Cuba Pavilion.
- Marta Sánchez, a well-known Spanish interpreter, attended as a guest artist at the Gala.
- He participated in the activities of Matanzas Louis-Georges Tin, a French activist born in Martinique and creator of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
Here I leave the most recent, almost final version of the program for this year:
Jodie Foster shares with CENESEX specialists
Jodie Foster shares with CENESEX specialists
Jodie Foster discusses the work of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) with Dr. Mariela Castro. Photo: Taken from the Facebook of Mariela Castro.
A CubaNews translation by Walter Lippmann.
Recently, actress and American film director Jodie Foster was in Cuba. During her visit to Havana, the winner of two Oscars for Best Actress in 1989 and 1992 shared with specialists from the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX).
Dr. Mariela Castro Espín shared her impressions about the meeting with Jodie on Facebook today:
“It was a pleasant surprise that the American actress Jodie Foster showed interest in knowing about our work at Cenesex Cuba, during her recent private visit to the Island with her wife, Alexandra Hedison, and her sons Charles and Kit, with whom we had a beautiful family evening” .
Open to scientific search, exchange of experiences and dialogue of knowledge, CENESEX counts on professionals of recognized prestige from different scientific disciplines who use a comprehensive approach in the study of sexuality.
Foster, whose performances in Taxi Driver, The Silence of the Lambs and Panic Room have always been in the memory of her followers, has now been added to the list of artists of the United States who have visited the Island after the approach initiated by Havana and Washington in December 2014.
Jodie Foster took a family photo with Cenesex specialists. Photo: Taken from the Facebook page of Mariela Castro
Jodie Foster together with her wife Alexandra Hedison. Taken from the Facebook page of Mariela Castro.
During her visit to Havana, the winner of two Oscars for Best Actress in 1989 and 1992 shared with Cenesex specialists. Photo: Taken from of the Facebook page of Mariela Castro.
Turning Tricks
- English
- Español
Vanguardia [Villa Clara, Cuba]
Turning Tricks
Luis Orlando León Carpio and Leslie Díaz Monserrat
January 19, 2016
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Make love not war is an axiom that defines Alex, a young man who decided to lead his life freely and who confesses that he managed to combine money, sex and a university degree which he just completed successfully. Still not 25, he knows the nightlife of Santa Clara and Havana with the precision of a cartographer on a map.
Alex, of course, is not his real name; but while telling this story, which reveals the most personal aspects of his intimacy, he chose to remain anonymous. He tells us that actually he somehow achieved an old childhood dream of becoming an engineer, and now he travels to the capital to “turn tricks”, the act of looking for a foreigner willing to pay for pleasure. “But I do it to have fun, you know? And I charge to make a profit though I do not do it professionally.”
Tonito- whose name is also not Tonito, nor is he a professional – defines himself as more home-oriented. At an early age he discovered that he was attracted to men, but that did not cause any drastic changes in his personality. He knows a lot about Santa Clara’s nights, human relationships and sex for money. “I have a number of friends who practice it; I can speak without problems.”
From their testimonies we know that male prostitution exists in Villa Clara. It seems that it subtly slips in around corners, especially in the provincial capital. We also learn that some resort to it out of necessity and others just for fun. Following this lead “Juveniles” went after a phenomenon that is rejected by many, while others already see it as natural.
An old trade
In an exclusive interview, Dr. Julio César González Pagés, a scholar who researches topics related to masculinity, defined male prostitution as the act of a male person having carnal relations with someone else in exchange for money or other material benefits. It is mostly young men under 30 who perform these acts and the market includes mainly men who have sex with men (MSM).
Although many tend to think that this is a modern business, it is actually an ancient practice, which is now visible and generates discussion. So says González Pagés, who points out that, since the late nineteenth century, anthropologist Luis Montane had published studies on homosexuality and transvestism linked to the male body as merchandise.
“There was talk of prostitution in the barracks of black and Chinese immigrants. Also, in early 20th century Havana there were the so-called tolerance zones, such as Chinatown or the Nogueira Theater that staged pornographic performances with paid male actors”, he added.
The 1990s marked a turning point within Cuban families and their system of values. Following the economic crisis, life imposed new ways of thinking. It was the time of the legalization of the dollar and the arrival of tourism to the country as an emergency measure to revive a stifled economy.
In this scenario, and as described by Denise Hernandez Villar, a specialist in Sociology and Sociology of Gender in the Marta Abreu Central University in Las Villas, the situation led certain households to take on prostitution as a livelihood.
“In Cuba, the social pyramid was inverted. Labor and wages became devaluated. Many professionals were left destitute and some of them chose to take up this practice as an escape route to bring money to their pockets.”
“From that point on, something unusual happens. A practice frowned upon, questioned, criticized, condemned and rejected by social controls (i.e. laws, regulations and political will), changed its perception by social standards. One example: a woman who was previously classified as a prostitute is now called “jinetera”, a fighter … and in the case of men, “pingueros”, pimps …” said the sociologist.
Children of the night
Tonito comments that the world of male prostitution is made up of three classes: low, medium and high. The first includes those who practice outdoors (turning tricks on the street) and charge 80 pesos in national currency. It usually takes place between Cubans. The middle class includes those who ask for 5 or 10 CUC –perhaps a set of clothes or a pair of shoes– and are more demanding.
“Stories are told about the restroom in Las Arcadas or other places near Vidal Park. In the so-called Fuente, in the Pastorita housing projects, there is a place to wait for customers. These are called points. There are also some around the hospital area,” reports Tonito.
Those in the upper classes –he adds– find their foreigners on the Internet and make online appointments. The rate depends on the country of origin: a Mexican will be charged 20 CUC and an American between 50 and 60. You just have to type a few keywords on Google: sex + guys + Cuban + rates … and you get pages devoted exclusively to this purpose.
“They are more refined; they don’t let themselves be seen much. Most end up in Havana, where there are higher rates and a better market for this job,” he adds.
Perhaps, in search of higher profit, Alex preferred to travel to the capital regularly. And he confesses: “At first I asked for 50 or 60 CUC because I felt sorry; but later on I charged no less than 80. The older the client, the more I charged. It depended on what he asked for; and if he was active or passive, although I always did the full job. But there are some who ask for such weird things… “
Tonito coincides and sadly remembers the day when a friend of his was left half-naked in the middle of the national highway, because he was asked to perform a service which he simply refused to perform.
Do some clients get violent? We ask Alex.
“Many times I had to get tough, because if I acted first, then they didn’t want to pay. So you start a big fuss: I’ll call the police, I’ll scream, I’ll cry rape … to scare them into paying. It happened to me with a Brazilian.”
Normally this work is done alone. Perhaps some fraternities are established; but men tend to think of themselves as their own bosses, unlike the days when women were under the clutch of a pimp.
“Sometimes a friend of mine and I watched over each other to protect ourselves from the guys who were into the business full-time. By the way, many even had a girlfriend. My friend is a hairdresser and makes a lot of money; he did not need to do this, but went out with me anyway. “
You just graduated from the Marta Abreu Central University in Las Villas, why choose this path?
I know of university graduates who practice there in Havana. I am not an exception. We did it mostly to go to parties, restaurants, and hotels … to places you usually cannot afford. We were like tourist guides. That’s how we presented ourselves. We took the foreigners to tour the city; they paid for everything and at the end… what was to happen simply happened.
From prostitution to transactional sex
For Pedro Chaviano Rodriguez, prostitution is an outdated term. “Now, as a behavioral category from the epidemiological point of view, it is called transactional sex (the name itself indicates a transaction, a sexual service in exchange for a material or non-material profit),” he said.
Chaviano works as a specialist at the Provincial Center for Prevention of STD-HIV-AIDS and coordinates the social networks of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) in the territory.
From his experience, he says that there is an increase of young people engaged in this activity in Villa Clara. Usually they are from other provinces and come here. The ages range between 19 and 21 years.
“Ideally, the practice of transactional sex should not exist. We are trying to integrate these people into society; but if someone wants to do it, we cannot interfere with the practice, because it is not penalized. We just ask them to do so responsibly, with the use of condoms.”
Is prostitution penalized in Cuba, or not?
Here, unlike in other countries, prostitution is not treated as a crime but as anti-social behavior, which is codified in Article 73, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code,” explains José Ramón González Guadarrama, a specialist in training and professional development from the Peoples’ Provincial Court of Villa Clara.
“The law describes the crime of pimping and human trafficking, and punishes those who live off the sex trade. The punishment will depend on the age of the person the pimp engages in the practice of prostitution, and ranges from 4 to 30 years of imprisonment,” he added.
And what about those who practice prostitution?
They are considered exploited victims, and therefore prostitution is not seen as a crime but as an anti-social behavior. Security measures can be applied: between one and four years of internment in a Ministry of the Interior special work or study center. We know that in recent times the practice exists among men; but these cases have not often been brought to court. It is more difficult to prove that a man engages in this activity.
Just like Alex and Tonito’s friends, other young guys venture into the streets and offer their bodies to the highest bidder. Some define it as having fun for profit; others practice it as a profitable trade. The truth is that this is a latent phenomenon in Cuba, one which we toward which we cannot turn a blilnd eye
“It is no more and no worse than in other countries. It just has its peculiarities. Male prostitution is a phenomenon that we must analyze and determine what steps to take regarding these people who see transactional sex –or prostitution if you wish– as a life choice.”
“In this case, it would require education to regard sexuality as the full enjoyment of our individuality, not as a commercial act,” says Dr. Julio César González Pagés.
PRINT EDITION:
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Vanguardia [Villa Clara, Cuba]
Hacer la calle
Luis Orlando León Carpio y Leslie Díaz Monserrat
19 Enero 2016
Hagamos el amor y no la guerra, axioma que define a Alex, un chico que decidió llevar una vida sin tapujos, donde —confiesa— supo imbricar dinero, sexo y una carrera universitaria, de la cual acaba de salir airoso. No rebasa los 25 años, pero conoce la vida nocturna de Santa Clara y La Habana con la precisión de un cartógrafo en un mapa.
(Foto: Ramón Barreras Valdés)
Alex, por supuesto, no se llama Alex; pero al calor de esta historia, en la que revela los aspectos más personales de su intimidad, quiso mantenerse en el anonimato. Y nos cuenta que sí, que de alguna manera cumplió un viejo sueño infantil de ser ingeniero, y ahora viaja a la capital a «hacer las calles», ese acto de salir a buscar un extranjero decidido a pagarle por placer. «Pero lo hago pa’ pasarla bien, ¿tú sabes? Y cobro pa’ sacarle provecho, aunque no me dedico a eso».
Tonito —que tampoco se llama Tonito ni se dedica a eso— se define más casero. Desde temprana edad descubrió su atracción por los hombres, sin que ello supusiera ningún cambio drástico en su personalidad. De las noches santaclareñas, las relaciones humanas y el sexo a cambio de dinero sabe un montón: «Tengo unos cuantos amigos que lo practican, puedo hablar sin problemas».
Por ellos sabemos que la prostitución masculina está presente en Villa Clara; que parece colarse con sutileza en los rincones, sobre todo, de la capital provincial; que algunos la asumen por necesidad y otros por diversión. Tras esta pista se escurrió «Juveniles» para visualizar un fenómeno que muchos reprochan y otros, sin embargo, ya ven natural.
Un viejo oficio
La prostitución masculina es —según especificó en entrevista exclusiva para este trabajo el doctor Julio César González Pagés, investigador de temas relacionados con las masculinidades— el acto de que una persona del sexo masculino mantenga relaciones carnales con alguien más a cambio de dinero u otro obsequio material. Mayormente se dedican a estos menesteres jóvenes menores de 30 años, y el mercado incluye, fundamentalmente, a hombres que tienen sexo con otros hombres (HSH).
Aunque a muchos les parezca un asunto moderno, se trata de una práctica ancestral, que ahora se visualiza y genera debate. Así lo asegura González Pagés, quien precisa que desde finales del siglo xix ya existían estudios del antropólogo Luis Montané sobre la homosexualidad y el travestismo ligados al mercado del cuerpo masculino.
«Se hablaba de prostitución dentro de los barracones de los negros y los emigrados chinos. También, en La Habana de inicios del xx estaban las llamadas zonas de tolerancia, como el Barrio Chino o el teatro Nogueira, donde se hacían espectáculos de pornografía cuyos protagonistas eran hombres a los que se les pagaba», añadió.
Los años 90 constituyeron un punto de giro al interior de la familia cubana y su sistema de valores. A raíz de la crisis económica, la vida impuso nuevas formas de pensar. Fue la época de la despenalización del dólar y la llegada del turismo al país como medida emergente para oxigenar una economía asfixiada.
En este escenario, y según describe Denise Hernández Villar, licenciada en Sociología y especialista en Sociología de Género en la Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas, la coyuntura propició que ciertos núcleos familiares asumieran la prostitución como un medio de sustento.
«En Cuba se invirtió la pirámide social. Se desvalorizó el trabajo y el salario. Muchos profesionales quedaron desamparados, y algunos de ellos optaron por asumir esta práctica como vía de escape para el bolsillo.
«A partir de ahí, ocurre algo inusual. Una práctica mal vista, cuestionada, criticada, condenada y rechazada desde los controles sociales (léase leyes, regulaciones y voluntad política), desde el punto de vista social ahora cambia su percepción. Un ejemplo: antes una mujer era clasificada como prostituta, hoy se le llama jinetera, luchadora… y en el caso de los hombres, pingueros, chulos…», apuntó la socióloga.
Hijos de la noche
Cuenta Tonito que en este mundo de la prostitución masculina hay tres clases sociales: baja, media y alta. En la primera están los que practican en exteriores (hacer la calle) y cobran 80 pesos en moneda nacional. Casi siempre se da entre cubanos. La clase media incluye a quienes piden 5 o 10 CUC —quizás una muda de ropa, un par de zapatos…—, y son más exigentes.
«Ahí están las historias que se cuentan del baño de Las Arcadas u otros sitios cercanos al parque Vidal. En la llamada Fuente, en los bloques de Pastorita, hay un lugar para esperar a clientes, los llamados puntos. También por la zona hospitalaria», informa Tonito.
Los de las clases altas —añade— consiguen a los extranjeros mediante internet y hacen citas online. El cobro depende del país de origen: a un mexicano le piden unos 20 CUC y a un norteamericano entre 50 y 60. Basta teclear algunas palabras claves en Google: sexo + chicos + cubanos + tarifas… y afloran en el buscador páginas destinadas única y exclusivamente a estos fines.
«Ellos son más finos, no se dejan ver mucho. La mayoría termina en La Habana, donde existen las tarifas más altas y un mercado mejor concebido para este oficio», continúa.
Quizás, en esa búsqueda de mayores ganancias, Alex haya preferido viajar asiduamente a la capital. Y confiesa: «Primero pedía 50 o 60 CUC, porque me daba pena; pero después no bajaba de los 80. Mientras más viejo era el cliente, más cobraba. Dependía de lo que pidiera, y si era activo o pasivo, aunque yo siempre hacía el trabajo completo. Pero algunos piden cada cosa…»
De esto último da fe Tonito, quien recuerda con pesar el día en que a uno de sus amigos lo dejaron semidesnudo en medio de la Autopista nacional, cuando le exigieron un servicio que no quiso realizar.
—¿Existe violencia por parte de algunos clientes?, inquirimos a Alex.
—Muchas veces tenía que ponerme fuerte, porque si actuaba primero, después no querían pagar. Uno ahí se pone a formar tremendo espectáculo: que voy a llamar a la policía, a gritar, a decir que me violaron…pa’ que se asustaran y pagaran. A mí me pasó con un brasileño.
Normalmente este trabajo se hace solo. Quizás se establecen algunas cofradías, pero el hombre tiende a concebirse como su propio jefe, a diferencia de los tiempos en que las mujeres quedaban bajo el yugo de la figura del proxeneta.
«A veces nos poníamos de acuerdo un amigo mío y yo para cuidarnos de los que sí se dedicaban a eso por completo. Que por cierto, muchos hasta tenían novia. Mi amigo es peluquero y gana cantidad, a él no le hacía falta, pero igual salía conmigo».
—Acabas de graduarte en la Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas, ¿por qué escoger este camino?
—Sé de universitarios que lo practican allá, en La Habana. No soy un caso atípico. Lo hacíamos mayormente para ir a fiestas, a restaurantes, a hoteles… a lugares que uno por lo general no se puede permitir. Éramos como guías de turismo. Nos declarábamos así. Llevábamos a los extranjeros a un tour por la ciudad, ellos nos pagaban todo y al final sucedía lo que tenía que suceder.
De la prostitución al sexo transaccional
Para Pedro Chaviano Rodríguez, la prostitución es una palabra obsoleta. «Ahora, por ser una categoría comportamental desde el punto de vista epidemiológico, lo nombramos sexo transaccional (el propio nombre indica que existe una transacción, una entrega sexual a cambio de una ganancia material o no)», precisó.
Chaviano labora como especialista del Centro Provincial de Prevención de las ITS-VIH Sida y coordina las redes sociales del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex) en el territorio.
Desde su experiencia asegura que se reporta un incremento de jóvenes que ejercen esta actividad en Villa Clara. Por lo general, pertenecen a otras provincias y vienen aquí. Las edades oscilan entre los 19 y 21 años.
«Lo ideal sería que no se practicara el sexo transaccional. Tratar de que esas personas se integren a la sociedad; pero si alguien desea hacerlo, no podemos meternos en su práctica, porque esta no se penaliza, solo pedimos que lo hagan responsablemente, con el uso del condón».
—¿Se penaliza o no la prostitución en Cuba?
—Aquí, a diferencia de otros países, no se le da un tratamiento de delito, sino de conducta antisocial, lo que aparece recogido en el artículo 73, apartado 2, del Código Penal», precisa el máster José Ramón González Guadarrama, especialista en formación y desarrollo profesional del Tribunal Provincial Popular de Villa Clara.
«La Ley establece el delito de proxenetismo y trata de personas, y sanciona a quien vive del comercio carnal. Las sanciones dependen de las personas que utilice el proxeneta en el ejercicio de la prostitución, y van de 4 a 30 años de privación de libertad», añadió.
—¿Y en el caso de quien ejerce?
—Representa la víctima explotada(o), y por lo tanto, no se asume como un delito, sino como una conducta antisocial y puede conllevar medidas de seguridad, entre uno y cuatro años de internamiento en un centro de trabajo especializado o de estudio del Ministerio del Interior. Conocemos que en los últimos tiempos ha surgido esta práctica entre los hombres, pero no han llegado con frecuencia a los tribunales. En ellos resulta más difícil comprobar que se dedican a esta actividad.
Así, como Alex y los amigos de Tonito, otros jóvenes se aventuran a la calle y proponen su cuerpo al mejor postor. Algunos lo definen como una diversión con ganancias, otros lo asumen como un oficio rentable. Lo cierto es que se trata de un fenómeno latente en Cuba, y ante el cual no podemos taparnos los ojos.
«No es más ni peor que en otros países. Simplemente tiene sus peculiaridades. La prostitución masculina es un fenómeno que debemos analizar y saber qué medidas tomar respecto a estas personas que ven en el trabajo sexual, o prostitución, según quiera decirse, una opción de vida.
«En este caso, se trataría de educar para ver la sexualidad como un disfrute pleno de nuestra individualidad, no como un acto para el comercio», asegura el doctor Julio César González Pagés.
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