Author: Yenisel Rodriguez

When they call us “young” — with that paternalistic tone that doesn’t allow the flourishing of the heroic faculty that was recognized in us at the outset — nothing remains but to reverse the unflattering circumstances with a sarcastic reply.

Popular revolutions, such as the one that occurred in Cuba in 1959, create deep marks on people’s daily culture, impressions of all kinds. Some foster future freedoms, others gestate oppressions to come.

In Cuban elementary education there is an institution that strives to instill state and government values in students enrolled in the first through the sixth grades. This subject is known by students and teachers by the name Los Pioneros, (The Pioneers.)

Early every morning, people of all ages start showing up on the running track at Havana’s Ciudad Deportiva “Sports City” complex. Since this institution is one of the largest sports centers in the country, it’s an excellent indicator for diagnosing the willingness of average people to incorporate exercise into their daily life routines.

Here in Cuba we’re currently being overwhelmed by the 16th Pan American Games. Almost unexpectedly, it has been like a real and contemporary setting where the historical empathy that the Mexicans feel for us Cubans has been reintroduced with new life.

The image of a Baracoa of paradisiac exoticism returns to find refuge in the online pages and broadcasts of our media and in the clouded lens with which our government journalists observe Cuban life.

In Havana’s Santos Suarez neighborhood, a monthly publication has been founded that seeks to make the daily lives of its inhabitants visible in print. The first issue has already been distributed to local residents.

At least we had a carbonated soda produced in the country. We might end up with capitalism, but it would be “sovereign” capitalism: with cola produced in Cuba, with sugars and flavors arising from origins of independence and anti-imperialism.

Sexual education programs implemented against STDs-HIV/AIDS by the National Prevention Center (NPC, the official institution that leads the fight against those evils in Cuba) have not transcended the logic of illness prevention.

The main purpose of these educational institutions is the cleansing of civil society. They serve to exorcize social conflict and economic precariousness through the direct transmission of a normalizing culture consistent with the government’s interests.