Miguel Díaz-Canel es el nuevo presidente de Cuba (Foto dominio público)

Tremenda Nota originalmente publicó esa nota en su sitio web.

El nuevo presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, defendió la permanencia de El Mejunje, la meca del orgullo gay en la isla. Pero su historial gay-friendly contrasta con su apoyo a otras censuras, como a los medios independientes. ¿Qué tan tolerante es el sucesor de Raúl Castro?

El nuevo máximo responsable del Estado es recordado en Villa Clara, la provincia más central de Cuba, como una especie de mesías revolucionario: El hombre que solía saludar a cualquier persona en la calle, el que se mezclaba con la gente de a pie y le pedía su criterio para resolver los problemas de la comunidad.  

A otros dirigentes de Villa Clara el pueblo les redujo sus nombres en un amago de acercamiento. A Humberto Rodríguez, otrora presidente de la Asamblea Provincial del Poder Popular, le llamaron Humbertico. Omar Martín y Julio Lima, primeros secretarios del Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) en Villa Clara en diferentes períodos, son Omarito y Julito. Pero Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez siempre ha sido Díaz-Canel. Cercanía con respeto.

A principios de la década de los noventa del pasado siglo, cuando fue designado primer secretario del PCC en la provincia, Díaz-Canel era un joven flacucho de melena rubicunda que iba a trabajar en bicicleta y usaba desgastados pulóveres a rayas. Se comenta que era un sex symbol santaclareño, dueño de una mirada “gatuna, marina y poderosa.”           

A finales de los ochenta y principios de la siguiente década Díaz-Canel era, según el fundador de El Mejunje, Ramón Silverio, “un muchacho carismático, como una estrella de Hollywood, muy elegante; sabía vestirse y tenía mucha sensibilidad hacia la cultura.” Le tocó dirigir en una época dura: Había que sacar (recursos) de donde no había.

Silverio siente que le debe la continuidad de El Mejunje al nuevo presidente. Está agradecido. En Cuba la relación de la ciudadanía con la dirigencia política no es de representación: La gente se siente en deuda con la dirigencia cuando hace algo bien. La asimetría hace fluir todo el poder hacia arriba.

El mentor de El Mejunje está por cumplir setenta años. Es una persona de naturaleza parsimoniosa en contraste con su voz gravísima. Todo el tiempo mantiene los ojos entrecerrados y le distingue una pequeña giba en la espalda. No tiene hijos y, sin embargo, es el padre y abuelo de muchas generaciones, el “salvador de la gente marginada.”              

Cuando algunas personas influyentes en la provincia y otras personas conservadoras con influencia en la política trataron de desacreditar El Mejunje y las actividades “sospechosas” — como llamaban los encuentros LGBTI+ que allí se realizaban — Díaz-Canel comprendió el valor de aquel sitio donde despuntaba una diversidad de orientaciones sexuales, personas y criterios. El propio Ramón Silverio afirma que, en aquella época se preocupó por que la gente comprendiera el sentido de El Mejunje.

El Mejunje es un centro cultural y discoteca “gay-friendly” en Santa Clara, Cuba. El presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel apoyó El Mejunje cuando era el primer secretario del Partido Comunista en Villa Clara. (Foto del Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

Codo a codo

Nelys Valdés fue parte del equipo escogido por Díaz-Canel a principios de los noventa para potenciar, con los pocos recursos disponibles, el sector de la cultura en Villa Clara. Gracias a él entró por primera vez a El Mejunje: Díaz-Canel la convenció de que “nada negativo podía ocurrir en un lugar tan frecuentado por artistas, escritores y escritoras.”

“Esa noche no se me olvida,” asegura Nelys. “Él tenía una visión objetiva sobre las jerarquías artísticas. Siempre supo que había que arriesgarse.”

La antigua directora provincial de Cultura ya está retirada de la vida nocturna de Santa Clara; es una señora mayor. Pero en aquel entonces se encontraba en la flor de su juventud y trabajó “codo a codo” con Díaz-Canel para defender os eventos artísticos que se generaron alrededor de El Mejunje.

Ahora casi que es más fácil ser mejunjero o mejunjera, pero en aquella época no, porque existían muchos prejuicios con el tema de la homosexualidad y de la diversidad en sentido general, coinciden Nelys y Silverio. “Mientras él estaba,” recuerdan ambos, “no había miedo. Ni podía llegar a sus oídos que hubiera alguna campaña contra algún asunto relacionado con El Mejunje, ya sea un concurso de Miss Travesti o una noche de Halloween. Nunca existió una amenaza contra el centro cultura.” Para su fundador “El Mejunje es lo más parecido al país que quisiéramos tener.”

Aunque el presidente cubano no se ha manifestado nunca públicamente acerca de la aprobación definitiva del matrimonio igualitario en Cuba, sí ha participado en las galas contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia en el Teatro Karl Marx. Hasta hoy ha sido “el dirigente estatal y político de mayor rango que haya respaldado las Jornadas Cubanas” contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia, según afirma el periodista y activista LGBTI+ cubano Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, en un artículo publicado en su blog Paquito el de Cuba.    
             
El famoso bloguero cubano destaca que el acontecimiento más trascendental que demostró la comprensión del nuevo presidente cubano sobre los temas de la diversidad y los derechos sexuales ocurrió durante el debate del Código de Trabajo en diciembre del 2013. Esa vez Díaz-Canel sugirió encargar a una comisión parlamentaria la redacción definitiva de la Ley que considerara todas las posturas, para propiciar un consenso ante los argumentos técnicos en contra, presuntamente prejuiciosos, de algunos parlamentarios. Todo terminó quedando en la nada.

El periodista argentino Martín Caparrós recientemente reveló detalles de su encuentro con el nuevo presidente hace más de veinte años. El argentino le preguntó al dirigente cubano si era cierto que se había declarado “el secretario de todos, de los obreros, los estudiantes, los campesinos, los homosexuales.” Díaz-Canel respondió: “No lo dije, no, pero yo siempre he dicho que tenemos que dar un espacio para todos, trabajar para todos.”
                   
También Mariela Castro, hija de Raúl Castro y directora del CENESEX, dijo que Díaz-Canel, desde que era funcionario de la Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, tenía la responsabilidad de atender el CENESEX, de manera que recibió formación en el tema. Cuando llegó a Primer Secretario del PCC en Villa Clara, era un dirigente formado en el tema.

Sin embargo, hay quienes no mantienen la esperanza de un cambio constitucional que reconozca todos los derechos relacionados con la identidad de género y la orientación sexual. Díaz-Canel también tiene una postura dura. Nadie podría asegurar que apoyará a todas las partes.

Meses antes de su “elección” el presidente cubano apareció en un video filtrado donde abogaba por cerrar medios de prensa independientes, algunos de ellos voceros de la comunidad LGBTI+ cubana.

En varios de los medios digitales alternativos aparecidos en Cuba en la última década han salido a la luz pública por primera vez historias de vida de muchos transexuales, gais y lesbianas de la Isla que no encontraban sitio en los periódicos oficiales. Un artículo publicado en el diario digital argentino Infobae agrega que esa imagen ortodoxa de Díaz-Canel contrasta con la percepción de hombre sencillo, tolerante, afable pero exigente que tienen muchos de sus conciudadanos de la provincia de Villa Clara.

A menos de un mes de su toma de posesión como presidente de los Consejos de Estado y de Ministros de Cuba solo se puede asegurar que Díaz-Canel, si bien alentó a El Mejunje y ha apoyado discretamente a la comunidad LGBTI+ cubana, también ha reprimido o tolerado la represión de periodistas independientes, activistas políticos y artistas disidentes. Ninguno de esos colectivos ha contado con el mismo “aliento” del presidente que las personas LGBTI+. Todo lo contrario.

Más allá de estas conjeturas, líderes de opinión como Ramón Silverio, cruzan los dedos y confían: “para nada Díaz-Canel es un hombre homofóbico; de serlo, hubiera sido un detractor y no un defensor de El Mejunje.” Silverio recuerda que el actual presidente asistía a menudo con su hija y su hijo a las actividades infantiles y, en aquella época, ni siquiera era Primer Secretario del PCC. Los padres y las madres que llevaron a los niños y niñas en ese tiempo a El Mejunje ya eran personas adelantadas de por sí. Les recomendaba a muchos artistas, a mucha gente importante como Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada — otrora presidente de la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular —, que visitaran El Mejunje. En el centro cultural todavía creen que Díaz-Canel habla del sitio, que lo reconoce como una obra importante de la cultura cubana y lo toma como ejemplo.

María Caridad Jorge es la portera de El Mejunje desde que, en los años noventa, el centro cultural más inclusivo de Cuba se mudó a su actual sede. Ella es lesbiana y activista por los derechos de la comunidad LGBTI+ en Santa Clara. Sin mucho esfuerzo recuerda las visitas de Díaz-Canel a El Mejunje. “Nos apoyó en todos los sentidos,” afirma. Para María Caridad, Díaz-Canel tuvo una visión larga del trabajo que se estaba realizando y fue un tipo que entendió que los grupos LGBTI+ tienen derecho también a participar en la cultura. Para la portera, Díaz-Canel era una persona normal, común y corriente. Y eso importante, razona, porque “no tiene razón dirigir un país y que la gente no te conozca.”

Miguel Díaz-Canel no formó parte de la generación revolucionaria que consideraba la homosexualidad como una desviación y que además penalizó y recluyó a esas personas consideradas “desviadas.” Lo que haga en su nueva y máxima responsabilidad en el Estado — ¿Promoverá el matrimonio igualitario? — determinará si la experiencia de El Mejunje fue un antecedente o una anécdota. Si llega a promover los derechos de la comunidad LGBTI+ pero cercena los de periodistas, grupos opositores y artistas disidentes, su tolerancia será una frustada sinécdoque: Una parte no alcanzará para alzarse sobre el todo.

Una bandera del Orgullo LGBT cuelga de un balcón a El Mejunje, un centro cultural “gay-friendly” en Santa Clara, Cuba, el 15 de mayo de 2018. El nuevo presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel apoyó El Mejunje cuando era el primer secretario del Partido Comunista en Villa Clara. (Foto del Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

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Violeta Cardoso, second from left, and her partner, Isabel Pacheco, second from right, attend an International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia march in Havana on May 12, 2018, that the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) organized. Cardoso last October received custody of her late daughter’s three children who she is raising with her partner. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The women soon began to speak passionately about LGBTI-specific issues with Juana Mora and Lidia Romero of Acepto, a group that advocates for marriage rights for same-sex couples in Cuba. It was sweltering inside the coffee shop because of a power outage, but the women nevertheless spoke with each other for more than an hour as they drank iced tea and coffee.

“I am optimistic,” Cardoso told the Washington Blade.

Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who directs the country’s National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), during a May 4 press conference said her organization will submit proposals to the Cuban National Assembly that would extend marriage and other rights to LGBTI Cubans. Cardoso and Pacheco met with Mora and Romero at the coffee shop a week later.

The National Assembly is expected to consider amendments to the country’s constitution — which currently defines marriage as between a man and a woman — when it reconvenes later this month.

Neither Mariela Castro nor CENESEX have publicly commented on how they plan to build support for their efforts in the National Assembly. Acepto and other independent LGBTI advocacy groups are nevertheless optimistic, citing recent legal and societal advances on the Communist island.

A three-judge panel in Havana last October granted Cardoso custody of her late daughter’s three young children who she is raising with Pacheco.

The ruling is believed to be the first time the Cuban government has legally recognized a same-sex couple. Cardoso pointed out to the Blade that one of the three judges — a man who she described as a “big black man” — who heard her case was crying after he and the other two judges ruled in her favor.

“There was no problem,” said Cardoso.

Cardoso, Pacheco and their children were among the thousands who took part in an International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia march in Havana on May 12 that CENESEX organized. Pacheco at the coffee shop told the Blade she is also optimistic because new President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who was born after the 1959 revolution that brought Mariela Castro’s uncle, Fidel Castro, to power, is more supportive of LGBTI issues than his predecessors.

“This is a good moment,” she added as Cardoso, Mora and Romero listened. “Our president is a man who was born with the revolution.”

Pacheco also noted Díaz-Canel supported El Mejunje, an LGBTI cultural center in Santa Clara, when he was secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in Villa Clara Province.

“He does not reject the community,” Pacheco told the Blade. “He does not see the community as a danger at all.”

Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry, in 2016 traveled to Cuba. Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith and other U.S. activists has also met with same-sex marriage advocates on the Communist island.

Cuban church groups publicly oppose marriage

More than 25,000 gay men and others deemed unfit for military service were sent to labor camps known by the Spanish acronym UMAP after the revolution. The Cuban government until 1993 forcibly quarantined people with HIV/AIDS in state-run sanitaria.

Cuba in 1979 repealed its sodomy law. Fidel Castro in 2010 apologized for the work camps during an interview with a Mexican newspaper.

Cuba since 2008 has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries through its national health care system, although only a few dozen people have been able to receive them. Mariela Castro, who is a member of the National Assembly, in 2013 voted against a proposal that sought to add sexual orientation to Cuba’s labor law because it did not include gender identity.

Independent LGBTI activists with whom the Blade has previously spoken say they face harassment and even arrest if they publicly criticize Mariela Castro or the Cuban government. Nelson Gandulla, the former president of the Cuban Foundation for LGBTI Rights, and Victor Manuel Dueñas, an activist who helped launch the “Nosotros También Amamos” campaign in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Cuba in 2015, are currently seeking asylum in Spain and in the Netherlands respectively.

Five Evangelical church groups late last month publicly expressed their opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples in a statement they posted on Facebook. The Cuban government subsequently denied their request to hold a march in Havana.

Maykel González, an independent Cuban journalist and activist who contributes to the Blade, included a copy of the declaration in an article he wrote for OnCuba, a Miami-based magazine that covers Cuba.

“The family is a divine institution created by God and marriage is exclusively a union of a man and a woman, according to Biblical teaching, the word of God,” reads the declaration.

“Gender ideology has no relation whatsoever to our culture, our fights for independence nor with the revolution’s historical leaders,” it adds. “At the same time, there are no links to other Communist countries, say the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and even less so North Korea.”

González reported CENESEX-affiliated LGBTI activists criticized the declaration. Yadiel Cepero, who created a social network for LGBTI Cubans on Facebook in 2017, is among the independent activists who echoed these sentiments.

“The five churches that signed the declaration from last June 28 showed their position in defense of patriarchy, machismo, sexism and hegemonic thinking that is stuck in the past,” Cepero told the Blade on Tuesday in an email.

Cepero added the churches’ use of the phrase “gender ideology” to argue against marriage rights for same-sex couples is “an attack against feminism, the just struggle of women, the contributions of science and gender studies in general.” Acepto in a statement it posted to its Facebook page on July 6 made a similar argument.

“They oppose all LGBTI rights because they feel that we distort human rights through legal institutions that guarantee our lives, abortion, women’s rights in general because they threaten patriarchy,” it reads.

‘We know the damages caused by the lack of marriage equality’

Romero did not explicitly criticize Mariela Castro while speaking with the Blade on May 11, although she said, “who knows” when asked about how she and CENESEX will convince lawmakers to support marriage rights for same-sex couples. Romero added CENESEX-affiliated activists and those who work independently of it nevertheless recognize the need to advance the issue in Cuba.

“Everyone talks about the need for the recognition of or the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples,” said Romero.

“In Mariela’s case, what she is really doing is responding to what all LGBTI people are saying,” she added. “I also think it is a good time to do it. It is a good time because of the big economic, judicial changes…and because of social changes. Cuban society has changed enormously and I think this has opened the door.”

Moisés Rodríguez of Corriente Martiana, a Cuban human rights organization that supports marriage rights for same-sex couples, largely agreed with Romero when he spoke with the Blade at his home in Cabañas in Artemisa Province on May 11.

“I think Mariela Castro really believes in what is needed,” he said, pointing out gay and lesbian Cubans who are in same-sex relationships have lost their homes and belongings after their partners have passed away. “We know the damages caused by the lack of marriage equality.”

Moisés Rodríguez of Corriente Martiana at his home in Cabañas, Cuba, on May 11, 2018. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Cuban Foundation for LGBTI Rights President Leandro Rodríguez was far more critical of Mariela Castro.

He described her statements in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples as “marketing” and “politics” when he spoke with the Blade last month from Villa Clara Province where he lives with his mother, Tanía García Hernández, who created a hotline for LGBTI Cubans.

“It’s one more falsehood, it is one more lie that she says,” said Leandro Rodríguez. “She [Mariela Castro] is a liar.”

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A proposed amendment to Cuba’s new constitution would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, a gay Cuban blogger who writes under the pen name Paquito el de Cuba, on Friday wrote the proposed amendment would “redefine marriage as a voluntary union into which two people who are legally eligible can enter.” Rodríguez reported the proposed amendment also “incorporates the principle of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Maykel González, an independent Cuban journalist and LGBTI rights advocate who contributes to the Washington Blade, also confirmed the proposed amendment.

Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who directs the country’s National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), in May told reporters during a Havana press conference that her organization planned to submit proposals to the Cuban National Assembly in support of marriage and other rights for LGBTI Cubans. Her comments came against the backdrop of pro-marriage equality campaigns that several independent LGBTI advocacy groups had previously launched.

Moisés Rodríguez of Corriente Martiana, a Cuban human rights organization told the Blade on May 11 during an interview at his home in Cabañas in Artemisa Province that everyone knows “the damages caused by the lack of marriage equality.” Lidia Romero of Acepto, a group that also supports marriage rights for same-sex couples, made a similar point when she spoke with the Blade later that day in Havana.

“Everyone talks about the need for the recognition of or the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples,” she said.

Five Evangelical church groups last month publicly expressed their opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The Cuban government denied their request to hold a march in Havana. Pictures posted to social media earlier this month show supporters of these groups holding signs during church services that read, among other things, “I am in favor of original design: The family as God created” with a picture of a man and a woman and two children holding hands.

The debate over marriage rights for same-sex couples in Cuba is taking place nearly six decades after gay men and others deemed unfit for military service were sent to labor camps, known by the Spanish acronym UMAP, following the 1959 revolution that brought Mariela Castro’s uncle, Fidel Castro, to power.

The Cuban government until 1993 forcibly quarantined people with HIV/AIDS in state-run sanitaria. Fidel Castro in 2010 apologized for the work camps during an interview with a Mexican newspaper.

Cuba since 2008 has offered free sex-reassignment surgeries through its national health care system, although only a few dozen people have been able to receive them. Mariela Castro, who is a member of the National Assembly, and CENESEX since that year have organized a series of events across the country each year that commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

A three-judge panel in Havana last October granted Violeta Cardoso custody of her late daughter’s three young children who she is raising with her partner of 32 years, Isabel Pacheco. The ruling is believed to be the first time the Cuban government has legally recognized a same-sex couple.

“There was no problem,” Cardoso told the Blade in Havana on May 11.

The National Assembly will debate the proposed amendment and other changes to the Cuban constitution three months after President Miguel Díaz-Canel succeeded Raúl Castro. Cuba would become the first country in the Caribbean to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples if the proposed amendment becomes part of the new constitution.

Violeta Cardoso, second from right, and her partner, Isabel Pacheco, second from left, attend an International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia march in Havana on May 12, 2018, that the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) organized. Cardoso last October received custody of her late daughter’s three children who she is raising with her partner. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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Joe Cardona hosts “Arcoíris,” program on Radio Martí that highlights LGBTI issues in Cuba. (Photo courtesy of Joe Cardona)

“Arcoíris,” which means “rainbow” in Spanish, first aired on Radio Martí on July 28.

The program airs each Saturday and Sunday from 4-5 p.m. Joe Cardona, a Cuban American filmmaker and ally who directed “The Day It Snowed In Miami,” a documentary that highlights Anita Bryant’s 1977 campaign against Dade County’s gay rights ordinance, hosts “Arcoíris.”

Nelson Gandulla Díaz, founder of the Cuban Federation for LGBTI Rights, an independent advocacy group, appeared on “Arcoíris” on Aug. 25. Gandulla, a vocal critic of Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTI-specific issues in Cuba as director of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), spoke with Cardona from Spain where he has asked for asylum.

“Arcoíris” on Sept. 1 highlighted the experiences of gay prisoners in Cuba. Ignacio Estrada Cepero, founder of the Cuban League Against AIDS who now lives in Miami with his wife, Wendy Iriepa Díaz, a transgender woman who once worked for CENESEX, has also appeared on the program.

Cardona’s family is originally from Havana and Matanzas Province. He told the Washington Blade last month during a telephone interview from Miami his program is “all about taking LGBT issues to the mainstream in Cuba.”

LGBTI rights advocates of Cuban descent in South Florida have welcomed the program.

“‘Arcoíris”‘ is an important window to the outside world for the Cuban LGBTQ community,” said SAVE Executive Director Tony Lima in a Radio Martí press release.

Program host ‘looks beyond’ Mariela Castro

“Arcoíris” debuted roughly three months after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel took office. It also began to air against the backdrop of the debate over the country’s new constitution with an amendment that would extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The Cuban government is currently holding meetings that allow members of the public to comment on the new constitution. The National Assembly later this year is expected to finalize it before a referendum that is scheduled to take place in February 2019.

This debate, which includes public opposition from evangelical churches, is taking place less than 60 years after gay men were among those sent to labor camps following the 1959 revolution that brought Mariela Castro’s uncle, Fidel Castro, to power.

Supporters of Mariela Castro, among other things, note Cuba now offers free sex-reassignment surgeries through its national health care system. Gandulla and other independent Cuban LGBTI advocates with whom the Blade has spoken insist they face harassment and even arrest if they publicly criticize Mariela Castro, who is a member of the National Assembly, or the Cuban government.

“I almost look beyond Mariela Castro,” Cardona told the Blade. “I look at CENESEX as another government apparatchik.”

Mariela Castro, daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, leads an LGBTI march through Havana on May 13, 2017. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Cuban government sharply critical of Radio Martí

Radio Martí began broadcasting to Cuba in 1985.

The Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which is a branch of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, funds Radio Martí and Televisión Martí. The two outlets have a combined annual budget of $28.1 million.

The Cuban government has sharply criticized Radio Martí and Televisión Martí.

The Miami New Times last month reported less than 10 percent of Cubans listen to Radio Martí broadcasts and less than 1 percent of Cubans watch Televisión Martí programs, in part, because the Cuban government has been able to block them from reaching the island. Critics continue to urge the federal government to decrease its funding of Radio Martí and Televisión Martí.

A 2014 agreement the Cuban government reached with the Obama administration to normalize diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington included expanded internet access in Cuba.

President Trump last year reinstated travel and trade restrictions with Cuba, even though his company and several associates have reportedly violated the U.S. embargo against the Communist island. Internet access in Cuba remains limited and expensive, even though there are now more than 700 public Wi-Fi hotspots across the country and a pilot program the state-run telecommunications company has launched allows Cubans to have Internet connections in their homes.

“I’m not the guy to prohibit anybody from traveling there,” Cardona told the Blade on Friday from Miami. “Obviously I encourage it, but I say to people, go there with eyes open.”

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Joe Cardona es el presentador de “Arcoíris,” un nuevo programa en Radio Martí con un enfoque en los temas LGBT en Cuba. (Foto cortesía de Joe Cardona)

“Arcoíris” se transmitó por primera vez en Radio Martí el 28 de julio.

El programa se transmite cada sábado y domingo entre las 4-5 pm. Joe Cardona, un cineasta cubanoamericano y aliado que dirigió “The Day It Snowed in Miami,” un documental sobre la campaña de Anita Bryant en contra de la ordenanza de derechos gay del Condado Dade en 1977, presenta “Arcoíris.”

Nelson Gandulla Díaz, fundador de la Fundación Cubana por los Derechos LGBTI, un grupo LGBT independiente, apareció en “Arcoíris” el 25 de agosto. Gandulla, un fuerte crítico de Mariela Castro, la hija del expresidente cubano Raúl Castro que promueve los temas LGBT en Cuba como directora del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (CENESEX), habló con Cardona desde España donde ha pedido asilo.

“Arcoíris” el 1 de septiembre enfocó las experiencias de prisioneros gay en Cuba. Ignacio Estrada Cepero, fundador de la Liga Cubana contra la SIDA que ahora vive en Miami con su esposa, Wendy Iriepa Díaz, una mujer trans que una vez trabajó para CENESEX, también ha aparecido en el programa.

La familia de Cardona es originaria de La Habana y la Provincia de Matanzas. El dijo al Washington Blade el pasado mes durante una entrevista telefónica desde Miami que su programa “todo es de llevar los temas LGBT al público en Cuba.”

Activistas LGBT cubanoamericanos en el sur de Florida han aplaudido el programa.

“Arcoíris” es una ventaja importante al mundo alrededor para la comunidad LGBTQ cubana,” dijo Tony Lima, director ejecutivo de SAVE, en un comunicado de prensa de Radio Martí.

Presentador del programa ‘mira más allá’ de Mariela Castro

“Arcoíris” debutó casi tres meses después del presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel tomó posesión del cargo. También empezó transmitirse contra el contexto del debate sobre la nueva constitución del país con una enmienda que extendería los derechos matrimoniales a parejas del mismo sexo.

Se están realizando ahora una serie de consultas públicas que permiten al público de comentar sobre la nueva constitución. Se espera que la Asamblea Nacional a finales de este año la finalice antes de un referéndum en febrero de 2019.

El debate, que incluye oposición pública de iglesias evangélicas, se está realizando menos de 60 años después del encarcelamiento de hombres gay en campos de trabajo — las UMAPs — después de la revolución cubana que llevó al poder Fidel Castro, el tío de Mariela Castro.

Partidarios de Mariela Castro, entre otras cosas, notan que Cuba ahora ofrece cirugías de reasignación de sexo gratuitas por su sistema nacional de salud. Gandulla y otros activistas LGBT independientes en Cuba dicen que confrontan el maltrato e incluso a la detención si critican públicamente a Mariela Castro, que es parlamentaria, o el gobierno cubano.

“Casi miro más allá de Mariela Castro,” Cardona dijo al Blade. “Miro a CENESEX como otro apparatchik del gobierno.”

El Mejunje es un centro cultural LGBT en Santa Clara, Cuba. Se realizó una marcha para conmemorar el Día Internacional contra la Homofobia, la Transfobia y la Bifobia en la ciudad el 15 de mayo de 2018. (Foto del Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

Gobierno cubano es fuerte crítico de Radio Martí

Radio Martí empezo de transmitir a Cuba en 1985.

La Oficina de Transmisiones a Cuba en Miami, que es parte de la Agencia de Información Internacional de EEUU, funde Radio Martí y Televisión Martí. Los dos Martí tienen un presupuesto combinado de $28.1 millón.

El gobierno cubano ha criticado fuertemente Radio Martí y Televisión Martí.

El Miami New Times el pasado mes reportó que menos de 10 por ciento de cubanos escuchan a transmisiones de Radio Martí y menos de un por ciento de cubanos miran programas de Televisión Martí, en parte, porque el gobierno cubano ha podido bloquearlos para que no lleguen a la isla. Los críticos continúan instando al gobierno federal a que disminuya su financiamiento de Radio Martí y Televisión Martí.

Un acuerdo de 2014 entre el gobierno cubano y la administración de Obama para normalizar las relaciones diplomáticas entre La Habana y Washington incluyó acceso ampliado al internet en Cuba.

El presidente Trump el año pasado reimpuso restricciones de viaje y comercio con Cuba, aunque su empresa y varios de sus asociados han violado el bloqueo estadounidense contra la isla comunista. Acceso al internet en Cuba sigue limitado y costoso, aunque ahora hay más de 700 hotspots de WiFi públicos por todo el país y un programa piloto de la empresa estatal de telecomunicaciones de Cuba permite a los cubanos de tener conexiones de internet en sus hogares.

“No soy el tipo que prohíbe a nadie viajar allí,” Cardona dijo al Blade el viernes desde Miami. “Obviamente lo aliento, pero le digo a la gente, ve allí con los ojos abiertos.”

The post Nuevo programa de radio estadounidense enfoca en temas LGBT en Cuba appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel (Photo public domain)

“I defend that there should be no type of discrimination,” he told Telesur, a television station that is largely funded by the Venezuelan government, during an interview that aired on Sunday. “The will of the people and the people’s sovereignty will have the final word.”

A source in Havana told the Washington Blade the Telesur interview was broadcast on Cuban television on Sunday night.

Díaz-Canel took office in April after Cuba’s National Assembly chose him to succeed Raúl Castro.

Lawmakers in July approved the new constitution with the marriage amendment.

The Cuban government is currently holding meetings that allow members of the public to comment on the new constitution. The National Assembly later this year is expected to finalize it before a referendum that is scheduled to take place in February 2019.

The debate over whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples is taking place less than 60 years after gay men were among those sent to labor camps — known by the Spanish acronym UMAPs — after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

Fidel Castro in 2010 apologized for the UMAPs during an interview with a Mexican newspaper. His niece, Mariela Castro, a member of the National Assembly who directs the country’s National Center for Sexual Education, over the last decade has spearheaded LGBTI-specific issues in the Communist country.

Díaz-Canel, who was born after the revolution, supported an LGBTI cultural center in the city of Santa Clara when he was secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in Villa Clara Province. Díaz-Canel also defended Mariela Castro’s doctoral thesis that focused on the integration of transgender people in Cuban society.

Independent LGBTI activists with whom the Blade regularly speaks insist they continue to face harassment and even arrest if they publicly criticize Mariela Castro and/or the Cuban government.

Presidente cubano apoya matrimonio igualitario

El presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel ha dicho que apoya una enmienda a la nueva constitución de su país que extendería los derechos matrimoniales a parejas del mismo sexo.

“Yo defiendo de que no haya ningún tipo de discriminación,” dijo a Telesur, una estación de televisión que es en gran parte financiado por el gobierno venezolano, durante una entrevista que emitió el domingo. “La última palabra la dará el mandato popular y la soberanía del pueblo.

Una fuente en La Habana dijo al Washington Blade la entrevista de Telesur fue emitido en la televisión cubana el domingo por la noche.

Díaz-Canel tomó el cargo en abril después de la Asamblea Nacional de Cuba le eligió de suceder a Raúl Castro.

Legisladores en julio aprobaron la nueva constitución con la enmienda del matrimonio.

Se están realizando ahora una serie de consultas públicas que permiten al público de comentar sobre la nueva constitución. Se espera que la Asamblea Nacional a finales de este año la finalice antes de un referéndum en febrero de 2019.

Se realiza el debate sobre la extención de derechos matrimoniales a parejas del mismo sexo menos de 60 años después del encarcelamiento de hombres gay en campos de trabajo — las UMAPs — después de la revolución cubana que llevó al poder Fidel Castro, el tío de Mariela Castro.

Fidel Castro en 2010 se disculpó por las UMAPs durante una entrevista con un periódico mexicano. Su sobrina, Mariela Castro, una parlamentaria que dirige el Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual, durante la pasada década ha promovida los temas LGBTI en el país comunista.

Díaz-Canel, que nació después de la revolución, apoyaba un centro cultural LGBTI en la ciudad de Santa Clara cuando era secretario del Partido Comunista de Cuba en la provincia de Villa Clara. Díaz-Canel también defendió la tesis doctoral de Mariela Castro que enfocó sobre la integración de personas trans en la sociedad cubana.

Activistas LGBTI independientes dicen al Blade que todavía se enfrentan el maltrato y el riesgo de detención si critican a Mariela Castro y/o el gobierno cubano.

El Mejunge es un centro cultural LGBTI en Santa Clara, Cuba. El presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel apoyaba El Mejunje cuando era secretario del Partido Comunista de Cuba en la provincia de Villa Clara. (Foto de Washington Blade de Michael K. Lavers)

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Mariela Castro daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, speaks at a Havana press conference on May 3, 2017. She reiterated her support of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Cuba when she spoke with the BBC this week in London. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

“This change is very important because it the political will of the state and the government to advance a human rights agenda and extend it to as many areas as possible,” Mariela Castro told the BBC during an interview in London, speaking through a translator. “It is time that the people of Cuba understand the need to recognize and protect the rights of everyone, without excluding people because of their sexuality, their gender identity, disability or race. This is the law of all laws and is about guaranteeing all possible rights.”

Mariela Castro, a member of the Cuban National Assembly who is director of the National Center for Sexual Education, spearheads LGBTI-specific issues on the island.

The National Assembly in the coming weeks is expected to finalize the draft of the proposed new constitution that includes a same-sex marriage amendment. A referendum on it is scheduled to take place on Feb. 24, 2019.

“Cuban society is showing that it remains a society in revolution,” said Mariela Castro.

Cuban revolution ‘centered on human beings’

The Cuban revolution in 1959 toppled then-President Fulgencio Batista. Gay men were among those who were sent to work camps — known as Military Units to Aid Production or UMAPs — in the years after Mariela Castro’s uncle, Fidel Castro, came to power.

“Cuba was part of the world and all the countries on earth were homophobic,” Mariela Castro told the BBC in response to a question about anti-LGBTI discrimination and persecution in Cuba that took place after her uncle came to power. “It wasn’t that there was necessarily persecution against homosexuals. It’s just that homosexuality wasn’t understood. It wasn’t that there were laws penalizing people, but there were ways of limiting homosexual or transgender people.”

“This has been changing thanks to the revolution,” she added. “In the early years, it wasn’t understood that this was an injustice but little by little things has changed through governmental institutions and by civil society. new proposals have come to help change the reality for LGBT people and we are now seeing the changes that take place to protect their rights.”

Fidel Castro apologized for the UMAPs in 2010 during an interview with a Mexican newspaper.

Supporters of Mariela Castro, among other things, note Cuba now offers free sex-reassignment surgeries through its national health care system. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who the National Assembly chose to succeed Raúl Castro earlier this year, in September said he supports marriage rights for same-sex couples during an interview with Telesur, a television station that is largely funded by the Venezuelan government.

Independent activists and journalists in Cuba with whom the Washington Blade has spoken in recent years say they face harassment and even arrest if they publicly criticize Mariela Castro and/or the Cuban government.

The BBC reporter who interviewed Mariela Castro described Cuba as “a very unfree place” when he asked her about the island’s overall human rights record. Mariela Castro in response to the question equated Spanish colonialism and U.S. policy towards the island, which includes an economic embargo, to human rights abuses against her country.

“The revolution has triumphed,” she said. “It is centered on the human being as its main objective, not on the interest of the ruling class.”

A man takes part in an International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia march in Santa Clara, Cuba, on May 17, 2017. Critics of the Cuban government maintain activists and journalists who publicly criticize Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, and/or the Communist island’s government face harassment and even arrest. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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Mariela Castro, la hija del expresidente cubano, habla durante una conferencia de prensa en La Habana el 3 de mayo de 2017. Mariela Castro la semana pasada reafirmó su apoyo por el matrimonio igualitario en Cuba durante una entrevista con BBC en Londres. (Foto de Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

“Este cambio es muy importante porque es una voluntad política del estado y del gobierno cubano de avanzar la agenda de derechos humanos y de extenderlo a tantas áreas como sea posible”, Mariela Castro dijo al BBC durante una entrevista en Londres, hablando a través de un intérprete.

Mariela Castro es miembro de la Asamblea Nacional de Cuba y directora del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual, promueve los temas LGBTI en la isla.

La Asamblea Nacional en las próximas semanas se espera finalizar el borrador de la propuesta constitución nueva que incluye una enmienda del matrimonio entre parejas del mismo sexo. Un referéndum se espera realizarse el 24 de febrero de 2019.

“La sociedad cubana está demostrado que sigue siendo una sociedad en revolución”, dijo Mariela Castro.

Mariela Castro rechaza críticas sobre DDHH en Cuba

La revolución cubana en 1959 derrocó el entonces presidente Fulgencio Batista. Hombres gay estaban entre aquellos que fueron enviados a campos de trabajo — conocidos como Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción o UMAPs — durante los años después de la revolución.

“Cuba pertenecía al mundo y todos los países en la tierra eran homofóbicos”, Mariela Castro dijo al BBC en respuesta a una pregunta sobre la discriminación y la persecución contra la comunidad LGBTI en Cuba que se realizaron después de su tío tomó el poder. “No fue que necesariamente hubo persecución contra los homosexuales. Es solo que la homosexualidad no fue entendida. No era que hubiera leyes que penalizaban a las personas, sino que había formas de limitar a las personas homosexuales o transgénero”.

“Esto ha ido cambiando gracias a la revolución”, ella añadió.

Fidel Castro en 2010 se disculpó por las UMAPs durante una entrevista con un periódico mexicano.

Partidarios de Mariela Castro, entre otras cosas, notan Cuba ahora ofrece por gratis las cirugías de asignación de sexo por su sistema de salud nacional. El presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel, que fue nombrado de suceder a Raúl Castro al principio de este año, en septiembre dijo durante una entrevista con Telesur, una estación de televisión en gran parte financiado por el gobierno venezolano, que apoya el matrimonio entre parejas del mismo sexo.

Activistas y periodistas independientes en Cuba han dicho al Washington Blade que enfrentan el maltrato e incluso arresto si critican públicamente a Mariela Castro y/o al gobierno cubano.

El reportero de BBC que entrevistó a Mariela Castro describió Cuba como “un lugar muy poco libre” cuando preguntó a ella sobre el récord general de derechos humanos del país. Mariela Castro en respuesta a la pregunta equiparó el colonialismo español y la política estadounidense hacía la isla, que incluye un bloqueo económico, como abusos de los derechos humanos en contra de su país.

“La revolución ha triunfado”, ella dijo. “Se centra en el ser humano como su objetivo principal, no en el interés de la clase dirigente”.

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The Cuban Capitol in Havana on Dec. 16, 2018. The country’s government has announced an amendment that would have extended marriage rights to same-sex couples has been removed from the draft of a new constitution. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Hatzel Vela, a Havana-based reporter for WPLG, a South Florida television station, reported the Cuban National Assembly cited Council of State Secretary Homero Acosta Álvarez in a series of tweets that explained the decision.

One of the tweets said the marriage amendment was removed in order “to respect all opinions.”

Tuesday’s announcement comes after the Cuban government held meetings that allowed members of the public to comment on the draft new constitution. Cubadebate, a state-run news website, reported “the majority proposed to substitute the concerted union between two people and return it to between a man and a woman as it is in the current constitution.”

President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Mariela Castro, daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who is a member of the National Assembly and spearheads LGBTI-specific issues as director of the National Center for Sexual Education, both publicly support marriage rights for same-sex couples. Evangelical church groups on the Communist island have publicly expressed their opposition to the issue.

Isel Calzadilla Acosta, an activist in the city of Santiago in eastern Cuba who works with Mariela Castro and her organization, is among those who expressed disappointment over Tuesday’s announcement.

“Our LGBT community is still excluded, without rights,” wrote Calzadilla on her Facebook page. “Where is social justice? Where is the debt of the Cuban government with so many people who are discriminated against, humiliated, mistreated and violated? We are going back to the 1960s. It is a big pity.”

Activist: Family Code could guarantee marriage rights

The marriage debate is taking place nearly 60 years Mariela Castro’s uncle, Fidel Castro, came to power in the Cuban revolution.

Gay men were among those who were sent to work camps — known as Military Units to Aid Production or UMAPs — during the 1960s. Fidel Castro in 2010 apologized for the camps during an interview with a Mexican newspaper.

Supporters of Mariela Castro, among other things, note Cuba now offers free sex-reassignment surgeries through its national health care. Independent activists and journalists with whom the Washington Blade regularly speak say they face harassment and even arrest if they publicly criticize Mariela Castro and/or the Cuban government.

A referendum on the proposed new constitution will take place on Feb. 24. The National Assembly on Tuesday said the country’s Family Code will determine who can legally marry.

A privately-owned coffee shop in Havana on Dec. 14, 2018, had a sign that highlights its support of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Cuba. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, a gay Cuban blogger who writes under the pen name Paquito el de Cuba, on Tuesday wrote this announcement “must also be seen as an opportunity for activism (around the issue of marriage rights for same-sex couples) in the near term.”

“The conception, study and discussion of this law will be another process that will allow us to keep the issue of rights for LGBTI people at the center of public debate,” he added.

Mariela Castro on Tuesday echoed Rodríguez in a series of tweets.

“The essence of Article 68 remains, the fight continues, now lets say yes to the constitution and then lets rally to get a Family Code as advanced as the new constitutional text,” wrote Mariela Castro in one tweet. “Cuba is ours, Cuba is for everyone.”

Editor’s note: Tremenda Nota, an independent Cuban e-zine that covers the LGBTI community and other minority groups, is the Blade’s media partner in Cuba. Tremenda Nota will provide additional updates on Tuesday’s announcement and its implications for the movement in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Cuba.

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El Capitolio de Cuba en La Habana el 16 de diciembre de 2018. El gobierno cubano ha anunció que una enmienda que hubiera extendida los derechos matrimoniales a las parejas del mismo sexo ha sido eliminada de la nueva Constitución. (Foto del Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

Hatzel Vela, un reportero por WPLG, una estación de televisión en el sur de la Florida, reportó desde La Habana que la Asamblea Nacional de Cuba citó al secretario del Consejo de Estado Homero Acosta Álvarez en una serie de tweets que explicaron la decisión.

Uno de los tweets dijo la enmienda fue eliminada para “respetar todas las opiniones”.

El anuncio de martes viene después de realizarse una serie de reuniones que permitieron al público de hacer comentarios sobre la nueva Constitución. Cubadebate, un sitio web estatal, reportó “la mayoría propuso sustituir la unión concertada entre dos personas y volver a que sea entre un hombre y una mujer como está en la actual Constitución”.

El presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel y Mariela Castro, hija del expresidente cubano Raúl Castro que es parlamentaria y promueve los temas LGBTI como directora del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual, apoyan públicamente los derechos matrimoniales para parejas del mismo sexo.

Isel Calzadilla Acosta, una activista en la ciudad de Santiago de Cuba en el oriente del país que trabaja con Mariela Castro y su organización, está entre aquellos que han expresado su decepción sobre el anuncio de martes.

“Nuestra población LGBT sigue estando excluida, sin derechos”, escribió Calzadilla en su página de Facebook. “¿Donde está la justicia social? ¿Donde queda la deuda del estado cubano con tantas personas discriminadas, humilladas, maltratadas y violentadas? Seguiremos en los años 60. Es una gran pena”.

Código de Familia es oportunidad para derechos matrimoniales

Se realiza el debate sobre el matrimonio casi 60 años después del tío de Mariela Castro, Fidel Castro, llegó al poder en la revolución cubana.

Los hombres gay estaban entre aquellos que se trasladaron a las Unidades Militares de Ayuda a la Producción o las UMAP durante los años 60. Fidel Castro en 2010 se disculpó por las UMAP durante una entrevista con el periódico mexicano.

Partidarios de Mariela Castro, entre otras cosas, notan que Cuba ofrece por gratis las cirugías de asignación de sexo por su sistema de salud nacional. Activistas y periodistas independientes han dicho al Washington Blade que son maltratos y detenidos si critiquen públicamente a Mariela Castro y/o al gobierno cubano.

Se realizará un referéndum sobre la nueva Constitución. La Asamblea Nacional el martes dijo el Código de Familia del país determinará si pueden casarse legalmente.

Una cafetería privada en La Habana el 14 de diciembre de 2018 indica su apoyo del matrimonio entre parejas del mismo sexo en Cuba. (Foto del Washington Blade por Michael K. Lavers)

Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, un bloguero gay cubano conocido como Paquito el de Cuba, el martes escribió ese anuncio “hay que verla también como una oportunidad para el activismo en un plazo inmediato”.

“Será esa concepción, estudio y discusión de la ley otro proceso que nos permitirá mantener el tema de los derechos de las personas LGBTI en el centro del debate ciudadano”, añadió.

Mariela Castro en una serie de tweets reafirmó esa postura.

“La esencia del artículo 68 se mantiene, la lucha continúa, ahora démosle el sí a la Constitución y luego cerremos filas para lograr un Código de Familia tan avanzado como el nuevo texto constitucional”, ella dijo.

la esencia del artículo 68 se mantiene, la lucha continúa, ahora démosle el SÍ a la Constitución y luego cerremos filas para lograr un Código de Familia tan avanzado como el nuevo texto constitucional. Cuba es nuestra, Cuba es de todos y todas #Cuba #LGBTI

— Mariela Castro Espin (@CastroEspinM) December 19, 2018

Nota del editor: Tremenda Nota, una revista electrónica independiente en Cuba que documenta la comunidad LGBTI y otros grupos minoritarios, es la pareja de contenido del Washington Blade en el país. Tremenda Nota tendrá más información sobre el anuncio de martes y sus implicaciones para el movimiento en apoyo de los derechos matrimoniales para parejas del mismo sexo en Cuba.

The post Enmienda de matrimonio eliminada de la nueva Constitución cubana appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

La bandera del orgullo trans, la del orgullo gay y la cubana (de izquierda a derecha) ondean en la playa Mi Cayito de La Habana. (Foto: Yariel Valdés González)

Nota del editor: Esta nota salió originalmente en el sitio web de Tremenda Nota, una revista electrónica en Cuba que documenta la comunidad LGBTI y otros grupos minoritarios en el país. Tremenda Nota es la pareja de contenido del Washington Blade en Cuba.

LA HABANA — El artículo 68 fue suprimido a favor de una fórmula menos precisa, desarrollada en el 82, que deja la posibilidad de legislar y consultar en el futuro sobre uniones y familias.

“La Comisión propone diferir el concepto del matrimonio, es decir, que salga del Proyecto de la Constitución, como forma de respetar todas las opiniones.”

Con este tuit, emitido en la tarde de este martes desde su cuenta oficial, la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular comunicó que el artículo 68, el más polémico de la futura Carta Magna, quedaba suprimido.

La versión original, aprobada en julio, definía el matrimonio como “la unión voluntariamente concertada entre dos personas con aptitud legal para ello”, una noción que desató la campaña de varias iglesias evangélicas en defensa del “diseño original” de la familia.

Sin especificar cuántas personas estuvieron a favor o en contra, Cubadebate asegura que el artículo mereció más de 190 mil opiniones del electorado, casi el 25% de todas las observaciones hechas al documento.

“La mayoría propuso sustituir la unión concertada entre dos personas y volver a que sea entre un hombre y una mujer como está en la actual Constitución”, afirmó la web sin desglosar los datos.

“Ha sido magnífica la posición de nuestra población, que se preparó y aportó muchas ideas para enriquecer el debate y el proyecto”, había declarado Raúl Castro en el Pleno del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) reunido el 13 de diciembre para analizar los resultados de la “consulta popular”, pocos días antes de la cita parlamentaria encargada de aprobar el Proyecto de Constitución.

En noviembre, también presidida por Castro, sesionó la comisión encargada de la redacción del proyecto. Ahí se acordaron las modificaciones que serían propuestas a la Asamblea Nacional y probablemente decidieron la supresión del artículo 68.

Para entonces, una docena de iglesias protestantes había remitido una carta al Comité Central de Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) con cerca de 180 mil firmas contra el artículo 68. Esa campaña comenzó en junio con otra carta que invocaba la ortodoxia comunista para rechazar el matrimonio igualitario.

Mariela Castro, la diputada y directora del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex) que ha intentado asimilar la agenda LGBTI+ al discurso político oficial, criticó esta semana la actitud de algunas comunidades cristianas.

“Grupos de fundamentalistas religiosos están tratando de chantajear al Gobierno cubano con que no van a votar a favor de la Constitución si se deja el artículo relativo al matrimonio entre dos personas”, aseguró en entrevista publicada este 17 de diciembre por el diario Gara, del País Vasco, y reproducida luego en el blog La Pupila Insomne.

“Bueno, pues que voten en contra, otra parte vamos a votar a favor, no nos asustan”, dijo desafiante, antes de recordar que “el Estado está obligado a garantizar los derechos humanos, lo que incluye la no discriminación, independientemente de que eso no sea aprobado por la mayoría”.

Este martes se supo que el matrimonio igualitario no sería votado, al menos por ahora.

Dos años y otro referendo faltan para casarse

A Luis Ángel Adán Roble, un diputado conocido por su discurso a favor del artículo 68 en la pasada sesión del Parlamento, se dirigió Tremenda Nota para indagar sobre la supresión.

“(El matrimonio) pasó al 82”, explicó el diputado poco antes de compartir en sus redes sociales una versión del nuevo artículo.

“El matrimonio es una institución social y jurídica. Es una de las formas de organización de las familias. Se funda en el libre consentimiento y en la igualdad de derechos, obligaciones y capacidad legal de los cónyuges. La ley determina la forma en que se constituye y sus efectos”, enumera.

Sigue un reconocimiento de “la unión estable y singular con aptitud legal, que forme de hecho un proyecto de vida en común, que bajo las condiciones y circunstancias que señale la ley, genera los derechos y obligaciones que esta disponga”.

Sobre la legislación que finalmente debe describir el matrimonio se anuncia, en las disposiciones transitorias del Proyecto, que hay un “plazo de dos años”, tras la entrada en vigor de la Constitución, para realizar otra consulta popular y otro referendo acerca del Código de Familia, donde finalmente “debe figurar la forma de constituir el matrimonio”.

Adán Roble no contestó más preguntas de Tremenda Nota.

Su colega Mariela Castro negó que el nuevo texto sea peor que el primero.

“La nueva fórmula sostiene la esencia del artículo anteriormente propuesto (68), pues borra el binarismo de género y heteronormatividad con el que estaba definido el matrimonio en la Constitución de 1976”, aseguró en su cuenta de Facebook, donde también lamentó el tuit del Parlamento porque “mutiló la nueva propuesta y con un enfoque no apropiado lanzó al ruedo lo que muchas personas están interpretando como un retroceso”.

Activistas y personas LGBTI+ marchan en Santa Clara contra la homofobia en mayo de 2018. (Foto: Yariel Valdés González/Archivo)

Por último, emplazó a la ciudadanía para que apoye la modificación: “ahora démosle el Sí a la Constitución y luego cerremos filas para lograr un Código de Familia tan avanzado como el nuevo texto constitucional”.

El periodista Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, autor del blog Paquito el de Cuba, y una de las principales voces del activismo LGBTI+ afín al Gobierno, también se declaró a favor del artículo 82 si garantiza “mayor unidad en el voto del referendo constitucional, con una salida que nos permite avanzar”.

En cambio, el activista Yadiel Cepero, uno de los promotores de Acción LGBTIQba, plataforma que planteó varias sugerencias a la propuesta constitucional, cree que eliminar el 68 fue “una mala solución”.

“Dentro de unos meses, cuando se abra la discusión sobre el Código de Familia, volverían a destaparse los debates, con una iglesia que se sabrá más fuerte en tanto logró que el Estado cediera a sus presiones”.

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Cuban authorities on Wednesday refused to allow Washington Blade International News Editor Michael K. Lavers to enter the country.

Lavers arrived at Havana’s José Marti International Airport on an American Airlines flight from Miami shortly before noon EST.

A customs agent pulled him aside and a supervisor took his passport. The supervisor’s colleague approached Lavers about 15 minutes later and asked him how many times he has been to Cuba, what his profession is and why did he come to the country.

The official informed Lavers the Cuban government was not going to allow him into the country. Lavers asked the official why and he said his name appeared on a list without any additional explanation.

Lavers spent more than six hours in the customs hall before he boarded an American Airlines flight to Miami shortly before 7 p.m. 

His iPhone was confiscated shortly after 3 p.m., but he was able to text contacts in the country through his Cuban cell phone. Lavers was not officially detained.

Lavers has traveled to Cuba seven times since 2015, with his most recent trip from Feb. 28-March 4 of this year on a “tourist card.” Lavers has filed dozens of stories from Cuba after authorities allowed him to enter the country with both press visas and a “tourist card.”

“We are deeply disappointed in this action by the Cuban government,” said Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff. “The Blade has traveled to Cuba seven times in four years covering the plight of the LGBTQ community and we are committed to fair, accurate journalism. Barring our reporter from the country is a disturbing development that we hope is an aberration that will be remedied.”

Lavers landed in Havana two days after the National Center for Sexual Education, a group directed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro, announced the cancellation of marches in Havana and the city of Camagüey that would have commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

Cleve Jones, a San Francisco-based activist who was to have been the Havana march’s grand marshal, was on Lavers’ flight and spoke with him before he passed through customs.

LGBT activists who work independently of CENESEX sharply criticized the decision to cancel the marches. Reports also indicate they are planning to stage a march in Havana on Saturday.

Other IDAHOBiT events sponsored by CENESEX will take place as scheduled. They coincide with increased tensions between Washington and Havana over Cuba’s continued support of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Reports also indicate authorities on Wednesday arrested Luz Escobar, an independent journalist.

The post Cuba blocks Blade reporter from entering country appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTI issues can no longer travel to the U.S.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement said Section 7031(c) of the FY 2019 Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act “provides that, in cases where the secretary of state has credible information that foreign government officials have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States.”

Pompeo said Raúl Castro is no longer eligible to receive a U.S. visa because of “his involvement in gross violations of human rights.” The restriction also applies to Mariela Castro and his three other children: Alejandro Castro, Déborah Castro and Nilsa Castro.

Miguel Díaz-Canel succeeded Raúl Castro as Cuba’s president in 2018. Raúl Castro remains the head of Cuba’s Communist Party.

“Raul Castro oversees a system that arbitrarily detains thousands of Cubans and currently holds more than 100 political prisoners,” said Pompeo in his statement.

“Castro is responsible for Cuba’s actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela through violence, intimidation and repression,” he added. “In concert with Maduro’s military and intelligence officers, members of the Cuban security forces have been involved in gross human rights violations and abuses in Venezuela, including torture. Castro is complicit in undermining Venezuela’s democracy and triggering the hemisphere’s largest humanitarian crisis, forcing 15 percent of the Venezuelan population to flee the country and precipitating a food shortage and health crisis of unprecedented scale in this region.”

Mariela Castro is director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education. The niece of Fidel Castro, who came to power in the 1959 Cuban revolution, is also a member of the country’s National Assembly.

Mariela Castro in 2013 traveled to Philadelphia in order to accept an award from Equality Forum.

Mariela Castro in 2012 traveled to the U.S. with a group of Cuban scholars. Mariela Castro during that trip participated in a panel with National LGBTQ Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey and met with LGBTI activists in San Francisco.

Pompeo made his announcement three days after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights held a hearing that highlighted the persecution of human rights activists and journalists in Cuba. Carlos Alejandro Rodríguez Martínez, editor of Tremenda Nota, the Washington Blade’s media partner on the Communist island, is among those who testified.

Yariel Valdés González, a Blade contributor from Cuba who suffered persecution because he is a journalist, on Sept. 18 won asylum in the U.S.

LGBTI activists who publicly criticize the Cuban government have told the Blade they regularly face harassment and the threat of arrest. They include Leodan Suárez Quiñones, a transgender activist from Pinar del Río province who said authorities detained her at Havana’s José Martí International Airport on Wednesday when she returned to the country from Jamaica where she participated in an event that focused on human rights and ecology.

The Cuban government on Aug. 15 prevented Leandro Rodríguez García, director of the Cuban Foundation for LGBTI Rights, an independent advocacy group, from traveling to the U.S. in order to attend a months-long program at the Washington Center in D.C. The Cuban government on May 8 prevented this reporter from entering the country after his flight from the U.S. landed in Havana.

Mariela Castro’s group days earlier cancelled its annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia marches that were scheduled to take place in Havana on May 11 and the city of Camagüey on May 17 respectively.

Cuban police on May 11 arrested several people who participated in an unsanctioned LGBTI rights march in Havana. Several independent LGBTI activists were detained in order to prevent them from attending the event, and a number of participants were later taken into custody.

Mariela Castro on her Facebook and Twitter pages has yet to publicly comment on Pompeo’s announcement.

The post Mariela Castro banned from traveling to US appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Nota del editor: Tremenda Nota es el medio socio del Washington Blade en Cuba. Esta nota salió en su sitio web el 26 de septiembre.

Mariela Castro Espín, la diputada y funcionaria cubana que ha trascendido como activista a favor de los derechos LGBTI+, no podrá viajar a los Estados Unidos por ser hija de Raúl Castro, exgobernante cubano y primer secretario del Partido Comunista de Cuba actualmente. 

Así lo comunicó este jueves el Secretario de Estado Mike Pompeo en una declaración que atribuye a Raúl Castro estar involucrado en “graves violaciones de derechos humanos”. 

Según la ley estadounidense, cuando el Departamento de Estado tiene información creíble sobre el carácter corrupto o violador de derechos humanos de funcionarios de gobiernos extranjeros, los imputados y su familia inmediata resultan inelegibles para viajar a Estados Unidos. 

La medida adoptada contra Raúl Castro afecta también a sus hijos Alejandro, Déborah, Nilsa y Mariela, esta última conocida por su cargo de directora del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex) desde el que ha emprendido campañas a favor de la comunidad LGBTI+ de la Isla. 

Mariela Castro Espín también ha hecho declaraciones polémicas en relación con su propia familia, la historia de la Revolución Cubana y el movimiento LGBTI+. 

A pesar de haber reconocido que el gobierno encabezado por su familia envió numerosos homosexuales a campos de trabajo, la diputada ha intentado disminuir la significación del hecho. 

En fecha más reciente, apenas en mayo pasado, descalificó la marcha independiente realizada en La Habana por cientos de manifestantes que acabaron dispersados por la policía. De “masa de ignorantes y esnobistas” calificó Castro Espín a los participantes que decidieron salir a las calles de La Habana tras la suspensión oficial de la marcha que había promovido la propia funcionaria durante una década. 

La funcionaria cubana ha visitado varias veces Estados Unidos para ofrecer conferencias y promover las políticas públicas del gobierno de la Isla hacia la comunidad LGBTI+. 

El comunicado del Departamento de Estado atribuye a Raúl Castro la supervisión de “un sistema que detiene arbitrariamente a miles de cubanos y actualmente retiene a más de 100 presos políticos”. También responsabiliza al exgobernante con violaciones de derechos humanos ocurridas en Venezuela. 

Alejandro Castro Espín, otro de los afectados por la medida, es coronel del Ministerio del Interior y fue asistente personal de Raúl Castro tras su acceso a la presidencia. 

The post Regulada: Mariela Castro y su familia no podrán viajar a Estados Unidos appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

While some countries forge ahead on a more progressive path, others, including the United States, took big steps backwards on LGBTQ equality in 2019. Our staff picks for the top 10 international news stories of the year:

No. 10 Countries grant marriage rights

Taiwan and Northern Ireland in 2019 became the latest countries to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Taiwan in May became the first country in Asia to allow gays and lesbians to marry after lawmakers approved a same-sex marriage bill. A law that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples in Northern Ireland took effect on Oct. 22.

Angola and Botswana this year became the latest countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations, although the Botswana government has appealed the High Court ruling that legalized homosexuality. Media reports indicate lawmakers in Gabon in July approved a new penal code that bans “sexual relations between people of the same sex.”

No. 9 Anti-LGBTQ violence persists in Latin America

Rates of violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity remained high throughout Latin America in 2019.

Camila Díaz Córdova, a transgender woman from El Salvador who the U.S. deported in 2017, died on Feb. 3 after she was found at a hospital with multiple injuries. Three Salvadoran police officers have been charged with Díaz’s murder.

Bruna Benevides of Associação Nacional dos Travestis e Transsexuais, a Brazilian trans advocacy group, on Sept. 13 said during an International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights event in D.C. that a trans person is killed in her country every 48 hours. The International Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) in November said four LGBTQ people are killed each day in Latin America.

No. 8 Cuba continues crackdown on LGBTQ activists, journalists

The Cuban government in 2019 continued its crackdown against independent LGBTQ activists and journalists.

Cuban police on May 11 arrested several people who took part in an unsanctioned LGBTQ march in Havana. The event took place less than a week after the National Center for Sexual Education, a group directed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro, cancelled its International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia marches that were scheduled to take place in the Cuban capital and in the city of Camagüey.

The Cuban government on May 8 refused to allow this reporter into the country after arriving at Havana’s José Martí International Airport. Maykel González Vivero, director and co-founder of Tremenda Nota, the Washington Blade’s media partner in Cuba, is among the independent journalists who the Cuban government has prohibited from leaving the country.

The U.S. on Sept. 18 granted asylum to Yariel Valdés González, a Blade contributor who suffered persecution in Cuba because he is a journalist. He remains in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody because his case has been appealed.

No. 7 Gay Luxembourg leader addresses U.N.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Sept. 24 became the first out head of government to speak about LGBTQ-specific issues at a U.N. General Assembly.

“Being gay is not a choice, but not accepting it is a choice,” said Bettel at a U.N. LGBTI Core Group event that focused on efforts to end anti-LGBTQ hate speech in social and traditional media. “Homophobia is a choice and we have to fight against it!”

Luxembourg is a small, wealthy European country that borders France, Belgium and Germany. Bettel took office in 2015.

No. 6 Hong Kong reaffirmed as 2022 Gay Games host

The Federation of Gay Games and the Gay Games Hong Kong Management Team in November reaffirmed the decision to hold the 2022 Gay Games in Hong Kong, despite pro-democracy protests that rocked the city this year.

The protests began in response to a proposed law that would allow Hong Kong to extradite residents to China for prosecution. The pro-democracy movement, which includes prominent LGBTQ activists, continues, even though Chief Executive Carrie Lam scrapped the proposal.

Hong Kong was a British colony until China regained control of it in 1997 under an agreement with the U.K. Lam’s pro-Beijing party in November suffered serious loses in Hong Kong’s local elections.

No. 5 Murders of at least 331 transgender people

Transrespect Versus Transphobia Worldwide, a project that Transgender Europe launched, on Nov. 20 published a report that says 331 “trans and gender-diverse people” were reported killed between Oct. 1, 2018, and Sept. 30, 2019.

The report notes Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. had the highest number of murders.

Two trans women of color — Ashanti Carmon and Zoe Spears — were killed in Fairmount Heights, Md., on March 30 and June 13 respectively. Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the U.N.’s LGBTQ rights watchdog, told the Blade after Transrespect Versus Transphobia Worldwide released its report the number of trans people reported killed is “only the tip of the iceberg.”

No. 4 Brunei penal code sparks global backlash

A provision of Brunei’s new penal code that sought to impose the death penalty for anyone found guilty of consensual same-sex sexual relations sparked outrage around the world.

The State Department, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet are among those who sharply criticized the penal code. Ellen DeGeneres and George Clooney also called for a boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel and other properties that Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah owns.

The Bruneian government in May announced it had placed a moratorium on the death penalty in the country.

No. 3 Anti-LGBTQ crackdown continues in Chechnya

The anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Chechnya continued in 2019.

The Russian LGBT Network on Jan. 14 said at least two people were killed and upwards of 40 others were detained in a “new wave of illegal detentions in Chechnya based on the alleged sexual orientation of victims, both men and women.” The Blade in April spoke with a gay man from Chechnya with HIV who said he asked for asylum in the U.S. “It’s not safe for gay people,” he said, referring to Chechnya.

The State Department in January described the additional reports from the Russian LGBT Network as “deeply disturbing.” President Trump has not publicly commented on the crackdown.

No. 2 Homophobic Brazilian president takes office

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office on Jan. 1.

Bolsonaro, a former Brazilian Army captain, continues to face widespread criticism over his rhetoric against LGBTQ Brazilians and other underrepresented groups.

Bolsonaro on March 19 stressed his government’s “respect of traditional family values” and opposition to “gender identity” as he spoke alongside President Trump during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden. Bolsonaro on the same day met with Pat Robertson and other evangelical Christians.

Bolsonaro was scheduled to accept an award from the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce in New York on May 14. Bolsonaro cancelled his planned trip to the U.S. after LGBTQ activists, among others, pressured sponsors to withdraw their sponsorship of the event.

No. 1 Trump immigration policy puts LGBTQ migrants at risk

President Trump’s hardline immigration policies continue to place LGBTQ migrants at risk.

Activists on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border with whom the Blade spoke in 2019 said the White House’s controversial “remain in Mexico” program that forces migrants to remain in Mexico as they await the outcome of their asylum cases places LGBTQ migrants at increased risk of violence. Activists have also sharply criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over its treatment of LGBTQ migrants who are in their custody.

More than two-dozen transgender women who were in ICE custody at the Cibola County Correctional Center, a privately run facility in rural New Mexico, on June 26 signed a letter in which they complained about inadequate health care and mistreatment from staff. A dozen gay men and trans women in March said they suffered “rampant sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse” at the Otero County Processing Center, another privately run ICE detention center in New Mexico.

Johana “Joa” Medina León, a trans woman from El Salvador with HIV, on June 1 died at a hospital in El Paso, Texas. ICE released her from its custody three days before her death.

The post Top 10 international news stories of 2019 appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

It is safe to say the vast majority of journalists do everything they can to not become the story. The Cuban government on May 8, 2019, took that choice away from me when I was detained at Havana’s José Martí International Airport for seven hours.

The Cuban government has not said why it decided not to allow me into the country, and any expectation that I will receive an official explanation is a laughable pipe dream. I do, however, have a couple of theories as to why Cuba decided to declare me persona non-grata.

One theory is the Cuban government did not want me to cover an unsanctioned LGBTQ rights march in Havana that activists announced would take place.

Reporters from the U.S. and other countries who are based in Cuba covered the event, which happened three days after I was not allowed into the country. These journalists and their Cuban colleagues also reported Cuban police arrested several people who participated in the march.

#CUBA: This is one of the arrests as crowd made their way yo #Malecón. This is reportedly Oscar Casanella. He called them “abusers” as he was taken by force away from cameras. #LGBT March in #Havana started peacefully and ended in conflict. @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/0X96VptIlS

— Hatzel Vela (@HatzelVelaWPLG) May 11, 2019

Many of the activists who organized the march have publicly criticized Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ-specific issues as director of Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education. A second theory as to why I was not allowed into the country is Mariela Castro, who is a member of Cuba’s National Assembly, wanted me to be declared persona non-grata because she was unhappy with my coverage of her country’s independent LGBTQ rights movement from my previous trips to the Communist island.

The aforementioned theories are not mutually exclusive because there is no such thing as coincidence in Cuba. What happened to me last May is most certainly part of a broader story about the treatment of journalists around the world.

The State Department’s 2019 human rights report, which notes my detention in Havana, points out the Cuban government “does not recognize independent journalism, and independent journalists sometimes faced government harassment, including detention and physical abuse.”

Yariel Valdés González, a contributor to the Washington and Los Angeles Blades has won asylum in the U.S. because of the persecution he suffered in Cuba as a journalist. The Cuban government last December prohibited Maykel González Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota, the Blades’ media partner on the Communist island, from traveling outside the country. Authorities on the same day I was not allowed into the country arrested Luz Escobar, a reporter for 14ymedio, an independent website founded by Yoani Sánchez, a prominent critic of the Cuban government, as she tried to interview victims of a freak tornado that devastated parts of Havana in January 2019.

Sunday was the 27th annual World Press Freedom Day, and President Trump acknowledged it with a tweet that once again proclaimed the media is “the enemy of the people.” This type of incendiary rhetoric has not only had very real consequences in the U.S., but empowers authoritarian regimes around the world to further target journalists. The White House ought to defend a free press, which the First Amendment protects, but this wishful thinking seems more elusive than an official explanation from the Cuban government that confirms my theories as to why it declared me persona non-grata.

Journalists in the U.S. should be able to work without worrying about whether Trump’s inflammatory and politically motivated rhetoric will inspire someone to target them. Journalists in Cuba should be able to work without worrying about whether their government will sanction and/or arrest them. Journalists in the U.S., Cuba and around the world should be able to work without fear of retribution and retaliation.

A free press is something I no longer take for granted. It is incumbent upon all of us to defend it.

The post A free press must not be taken for granted appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

A gay man from Cuba who lives in Maryland says he fled persecution because of his sexual orientation and HIV status.

Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, 32, is from Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second largest city that is located in eastern Cuba.

Mayeta was a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), one the country’s most prominent opposition groups. Mayeta has also contributed to 14ymedio, a website founded by Yoani Sánchez, a prominent critic of the Cuban government, and other outlets that include the Miami-based CubaNet.

Mayeta on April 15 during a telephone interview from Hyattsville where he currently lives noted the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) — a group directed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ issues in Cuba — last May cancelled its annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia marches that were scheduled to take place in Havana and Camagüey.

The Cuban government on May 8, 2019, detained this reporter for several hours after he tried to enter the country at Havana’s José Martí International Airport. A number of people who participated in an unsanctioned LGBTQ march that took place in the Cuban capital three days later were arrested.

Mayeta and his then-partner organized a similar event in Santiago de Cuba that was to have taken place on the same day, but authorities prevented them from attending.

“We were the ones who called for the parallel march in Santiago de Cuba,” Mayeta told the Blade. “My home was completely surrounded from early on May 11. They did not allow us to leave the house in order to keep us from the march.”

Mayeta said he started to work with CENESEX when he was in high school.

He told the Blade he was an HIV prevention volunteer with Mariela Castro’s group. Mayeta said he later worked with a CENESEX-affiliated group in Santiago de Cuba that distributes condoms and HIV prevention information to men who have sex with men.

Mayeta told the Blade the group in 2011 expelled him because of his affiliation with UNPACU and his work with independent media outlets.

“They expelled me from this organization,” he said.

A Cuban court in April sentenced UNPACU member José Daniel Ferrer to 4 1/2 years in prison for assault and kidnapping, according to the Associated Press. Ferrer, who had been incarcerated since last year, is now under house arrest in Santiago de Cuba.

Mayeta told the Blade that Cuban police last year detained him after he publicly criticized a CENESEX-affiliated activist who insulted him on social media. Mayeta said authorities later fined him the equivalent of $11.67 and banned him from leaving the country.

Mayeta said this incident took place before Cubans on Feb. 24, 2019, overwhelmingly approved the country’s new constitution.

A draft of the constitution contained an amendment that would have extended marriage rights to same-sex couples, but the Cuban government removed it ahead of the referendum. Mayeta and other independent LGBTQ activists sharply criticized the decision.

Pro-government activists stressed the new constitution protects LGBTQ Cubans and recognizes same-sex couples. Mariela Castro — who Mayeta described to the Blade as the “dictator’s daughter” — said she and CENESEX support changes to Cuba’s Family Code that would allow same-sex couples to marry.

“Mariela Castro is also seen in Cuba, like in many countries, as the supposed defender of rights for the Cuban LGBTI community,” said Mayeta. “This is completely false.”

Cubans with HIV/AIDS forcibly quarantined until 1993

Mayeta told the Blade he learned he was living with HIV in September 2011.

UNAIDS says an estimated 31,000 Cubans who are at least 15 were living with HIV in 2018. Mayeta told the Blade between 30,000-32,000 Cubans are HIV-positive, but he said the Cuban government underestimates the numbers of people in the country who live with the virus.

The Cuban government until 1993 forcibly quarantined people with HIV/AIDS in state-run sanitaria. Mayeta stressed to the Blade that for him “it has been very difficult to live with this disease in Cuba.”

Mayeta said Cuban doctors refused to treat him for three years because of his status. Mayeta also told the Blade they denied him antiretroviral drugs before he traveled to the D.C. last Aug. 15 in order to participate in a State Department program.

“They told me no, the country where I was going and the country that I supposedly defended for many years can give me medications,” he said, referring to the doctors. “To me it is pathological.”

Mayeta since his arrival in the D.C. metropolitan area has continued to report for CubaNet. Mayeta also participates in protests against the Cuban government.

Mayeta told the Blade he has yet to formally ask for asylum, but he does have a lawyer who will represent him pro bono.

“My future is going to be the same: Working in support of the rights of the Cuban LGBTI community, working in support of the rights of people who live with HIV/AIDS,” he said when asked about his plans if the U.S. were to grant him asylum. “I will also continue my journalistic work.”

The post Gay Cuban man with HIV plans to seek asylum in US appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

An LGBTQ activist and journalist in Cuba says authorities on Wednesday threatened to arrest him.

Jancel Moreno, who contributes to ADN Cuba, an independent website, in a Facebook post said he arrived at a police station in Matanzas, a city on the island’s northern coast that is roughly 60 miles east of Havana, at around 2 p.m. after he received an order to do on Tuesday.

Moreno wrote a major with Cuba’s National Revolutionary Police showed him a file with “more than 40 publications from my profile, also telling me that I am a follower of” José Daniel Ferrer, head of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), and other opposition figures.

“It was really impossible to enter into a debate, because neither he will change his position, nor will I,” wrote Moreno.

Moreno said the major told him he summoned him to the police station “to alert me that I can face four charges for his publications.” These include “enemy propaganda” and “disrespect (specifically because of my way of not showing respect for authorities, Mariela Castro’s name comes out …)”

Mariela Castro is the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro who spearheads LGBTQ-specific issues in Cuba as director of the National Center for Sexual Education. Mariela Castro is also a member of Cuba’s National Assembly.

Cubans on Sept. 8 honor the country’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre.

Moreno publicly criticized Mariela Castro after she evoked her to defend the 1959 Cuban revolution that brought her uncle, Fidel Castro, to power. Moreno in his Facebook post wrote the file he saw at the police station had copies of his public criticisms of Mariela Castro, including a hashtag that mocked her.

Moreno said the mayor also told him he could face charges of “incitement to commit a crime (because I supported women who entered military officers’ houses last Saturday)” and “spreading a pandemic” that he concedes “is not very clear to me.” Moreno wrote he could face between 3-4 years in prison “for simply publishing on social media networks.”  

Moreno on Wednesday night told the Washington Blade that he is at his home and safe.

Former partner asked for asylum in the Netherlands

Moreno, 21, is the latest in a series of independent LGBTQ activists and journalists who the Cuban government has targeted.

Leandro Rodríguez García and his mother, Tania García Hernández, say a state security official on Sept. 11 threatened them at their home in Villa Clara province in Central Cuba.

A judge last September granted asylum to Yariel Valdés González, a Blade contributor who faced persecution in Cuba because of his work as an independent journalist.

The Cuban government on May 8, 2019, detained this reporter for several hours at Havana’s José Martí International Airport after he tried to enter the country. Authorities three days later arrested several people during an unsanctioned LGBTQ rights march that took place near the Cuban Capitol in Havana.

Dayana Mena López, a transgender woman of African descent who is from Villa Clara province, fled Cuba in December 2018 because of persecution she said she suffered because of her gender identity and her opposition to the Cuban government. She won asylum in the U.S. in August 2019 and she now lives in Jacksonville, Fla.

Yanelkys Moreno Agramonte and her girlfriend, Dayana Rodríguez González, suffered harassment and discrimination in the small town in Central Cuba where they lived because they are lesbians. The two women asked for asylum in the U.S. last November, and an immigration judge on Monday ruled in Moreno’s favor.

Jancel Moreno’s former partner, Victor Manuel Dueñas, asked for asylum in the Netherlands in 2018. Dueñas said authorities threatened him when he publicly questioned police mistreatment of LGBTQ people in Cárdenas, a city adjacent to Matanzas.

Rodríguez and Maykel González Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota, the Blade’s media partner in Cuba, are among those who the Cuban government has prevented from leaving the country.

The post Cuban authorities threaten to arrest LGBTQ activist, journalist appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

In my 30 years, I have never elected the president of my country, and it is not something I say with pride, but rather with shame. I should have voted for at least three presidential candidates at this point in my life, but that possibility where I come from was exterminated like a deadly pandemic.

There are no presidential elections in Cuba, but rather elected members of the National Assembly who elect the president themselves. This deceptive and convenient electoral system was manufactured several years after the triumph of the 1959 revolution and allowed the same man to govern for 49 years. Fidel Castro fell so in love with power that only a deadly disease could take it from him in 2008.

At that time, he transferred the reins of power to his brother, Raúl Castro, who established 5-year presidential terms. The president was allowed to run for re-election, but the same electoral system remained in place. How convenient! At the age of 87 and tired of steering a ship aimlessly for a decade, Castro appointed Miguel Díaz-Canel, a 58-year-old engineer who he previously trained, as a presidential candidate.

My homeland’s president-designate, however, is a carefully stitched marionette puppet who is handled by very thin strings that tell him what to do or say, since it is the Castro dynasty that truly commands the Communist island’s destinies behind the scenes.

Díaz-Canel, therefore, did not have to win the applause of the masses with government proposals. He did not run against opponents for months; nor did he face them in nationally televised debates. Díaz-Canel was elected mechanically and unanimously by 605 National Assembly members locked in a room, not by the more than eight million Cubans registered to vote.

Still, no one can dispute his “leadership.” Cuba does not recognize or legalize the opposition as normally happens in democracies. The brave few who stand up to the regime are persecuted or imprisoned as criminals, accused of receiving money that the United States sends them to “subvert” the “sovereign and democratic order chosen by the people.”  

As a journalist in Cuba, I was accused by the dictatorship of being part of “subversive campaigns” that independent media launched against the dictatorship and that, according to them, seek a regime change, when in truth I only wanted to show the world the harsh reality of my people.

I spent 11 months in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prisons after I asked for asylum in this country. My departure to true freedom, just seven months ago, has coincided with the epilogue of the presidential election in the United States, in which I still do not have the right to participate.

Even so, being a spectator of this process is extremely exciting. Coming from a dictatorship without presidential elections to a country with one of the strongest democracies on earth is a 360-degree turn, one to which I am still assimilating and beginning to understand.

For the moment, my vote, like that of millions of immigrants, will be excluded. That does not mean, however, that I cannot join the electoral fervor prior to Nov. 3.

It’s a weird feeling, I confess. So many years of inexperience cannot be recovered at once. At times I feel shy, even fearful. It takes some time to get used to the idea that nothing will happen to you for speaking against the president himself.

One of my first contributions was to place a banner in support of Biden with my boyfriend in the garden of our apartment. That small poster was, for me, the unequivocal sign of the political freedom that I now have and that for so many years was taken from me.

Then a friend, a fervent pro-Biden activist in Fort Lauderdale, invited me to a rally in support of the former vice president. When I saw myself there I knew that I was really contributing to the good of this nation.

In some way, supporting the candidate who I think is the right one is my way of doing something good for this country, of returning the favor for it welcoming me, of saying thank you: Thank you for allowing me to choose, thank you for protecting me from intolerance, thank you for setting me free, thank you for letting me grow, dream, live …

My contribution to American democracy will definitely not be in statistics, nor will it arrive by mail. My vote is not secret or personal. I throw my vote into the wind every time I go out with a Democratic flag; when I hold up a sign in the name of the blue candidate; when I jump excited if someone honks their car horn as a sign of sympathy; when I put my thumb up if a Trump supporter shows me his is down; when I travel the streets in a caravan urging everyone I see to vote.

Because in this country voting can make a difference, especially in Florida, a state that has been key in the last presidential races and where a large immigrant community resides, which grows stronger every day. 

Proof of this is the sum of the current electoral contest of more than 23 million naturalized immigrants in the United States who are eligible to vote, according to a report by the Pew Research Center, which represents approximately 1 in 10 eligible voters in the United States. A new record.

I will not be able to vote in the next election either, but I will be closer. Meanwhile, I will continue to raise my voice for myself and on behalf of the millions of excluded. My contribution may not be taken into account now, but definitely no one will be able to silence it anymore.

The post My vote on behalf of those who are excluded appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Tremenda Nota is the Washington Blade’s media partner in Cuba. This article was published on their website on April 17.

HAVANA — Raúl Castro in his report to the eighth congress of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC) that began last Friday and will end on April 19 in Havana referred to the rights of LGBTI+ people, gender-based violence and discrimination based on skin color.

“It continues to support the work of the Federation of Cuban Women and other institutions in the defense of women’s rights and the denunciation of gender-based violence. The confrontation with prejudices associated with sexual orientation and gender identity will deepen,” said the Cuban leader.

He also mentioned the process of drafting and discussing the Family Code, the law that must finally resolve whether LGBTI+ couples will have the right to marriage.

“In compliance with the constitutional mandate, the Council of State approved the commission that will come up with the draft of the Family Code for its analysis in Parliament and subsequent discussion with the population, an activity that is already being worked on,” he said.

The Council of State on March 23 appointed a commission that must present the bill within an unspecified period. Activism has demanded the identity of those who make up that commission be made public. This request, thus far, remains unanswered. LGBTI+ activists are currently divided between those who support public debate and the holding of a referendum to adopt the Family Code or not and those who reject the idea that the rights of a group are submitted to the majority.

Raúl Castro also commented on authorities’ response to discrimination against people of African descent.

“The creation of the government program and the commission headed by the president of the republic, (Miguel) Díaz-Canel, to address the issue of racial discrimination will promote a more effective confrontation with these lags of the past and greater coherence in the presentation and conduct of the public debate about them,” he said.

The political leader later declared that the agendas of LGBTI+, anti-racist, feminist and animal rights groups are a goal of U.S. policy with the aim of achieving “the breakdown of national unity.”

“Priority [of the United States government] is given to actions directed at young people, women and academics, the artistic and intellectual sector, journalists, athletes, people of sexual diversity and religions. Matters of interest to specific groups related to the protection of animals, the environment, or artistic and cultural protests are manipulated, all aimed at ignoring existing institutions,” he said.

These are the criticisms authorities have repeatedly made with respect to independent activism that emerges in Cuba: Having U.S. support to build spaces for participation that are parallel to organizations and entities that are subordinate to the State. Various groups, however, including those run by artists, animal rights defenders and the LGBTI+ community, have expressly declared their desire to dialogue with the institutions and have also emphasized their autonomy with respect to U.S. politics.

Raúl Castro drew attention to “the benefits and dangers of using the internet and social networks” saying that “they can be used for the best and also the worst purposes.”

He declared the internet is “a virtual image of Cuba as a dying society with no future, about to collapse and give way to the much longed-for social explosion that is created and disseminated to the four winds.”

Regarding the political opposition, he said that “it lacks a social base, leadership and mobilization capacity, the number of its members and the number of social impact actions continues to decrease, concentrating its activism on social networks and the internet.”

The report did not speak explicitly of the non-state press in its range of agendas, but it did criticize the official media for their “incorrect approaches” to the measure of establishing stores for the sale of basic necessities in U.S. dollars.

Raúl Castro has been a vocal critic of the official media precisely controlled by the PCC. In the report he pointed out “his attachment to the truth and his rejection of lies” to later regret the “demonstrations of triumphalism, stridency and superficiality in the way they approach the reality of the country.”

“Sometimes journalistic works that are presented tend to confuse, instead of clarifying. These approaches damage the credibility of the information and communication policy that has been approved. The immediacy in approaching the national task should not be at odds with objectivity, professionalism and, above all, political intentionality,” he said.

A good part of the report refers to the current economic crisis affecting Cuba and its relationship to U.S. sanctions.

“Sometimes the objective data on the damage that the United States has caused to the Cuban economy and the objective impact of the more than 240 coercive measures adopted since 2017 are not sufficiently understood or evaluated in detail. It should be understood that these are not simple actions to expand the embargo, but rather new methods, some unprecedented, that took the magnitude of the economic war to a qualitatively more aggressive step, which is reflected in the material deficiencies that accompany the daily life of every Cuban, “said Raúl Castro.

He later took the opportunity to express “the will to develop a respectful dialogue and build a new type of relationship with the United States, without pretending that Cuba renounces the principles of the revolution and socialism in order to achieve this.”

After referring to Cuba’s economic situation, its international relations and the state of defense institutions, the 89-year-old political leader announced he was leaving the post of first secretary of the PCC’s Central Committee. He gave his support to the current Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, near the end of the report.

The post Raúl Castro speaks about LGBTQ rights during Communist Party congress appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.