I had the privilege of participating in the recently concluded VI International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGA -LAC), held at the Plaza America Convention Center in the tourist town of Varadero.
Fellow Havana Times blogger and friend Yenisel Rodriguez has just published a provocative piece criticizing the ways in which feminism, gender studies and research on masculinity issues have been developing in Cuba and the world. I would like to share my points of agreement and disagreement with his thesis here.
None of the silk cotton (ceiba) trees I’ve planted as part of the Guardabosques (“Forest Ranger”) initiative I created in 2007 with a group of people concerned about the city’s trees have survived to date. I admit I no longer know what to do about this, as I’ve tried every strategy I’ve deemed appropriate.
Cuba’s Granma newspaper website recently changed their look and several features including the new possibility of posting comments. We should pay attention to these shy steps and what they could mean for the future: a move towards an acceptable model of free press, or a mere disguise used to conceal the censorship mechanism we know so well.
The lack of transparency of this military institution, the discretionary nature of its employment methods, the mystery that surrounds the budgets it handles and the prerogatives given to it by the Council of Ministers, totally contradict Raul Castro’s call to “change our mentality.”
The Cuban government seems to be making more and more concessions with respect to the lifestyles of the world’s governing elite and no longer conceals how much the hypocritical protocol that characterize international relations appeal to it.
The paths of Cuba and the fate of the Cuban revolution are issues of serious concern outside the island. No one had to tell me, nor did I have to read it, I saw it with my own eyes during my recent visit to Brazil in the month of January.
It happened inside a bus in Havana some days ago, for all passengers to see. A teenager attacked my friend and colleague Yasmin S. Portales Machado, yanking the veil she normally wears so hard he almost made her fall backwards.
The Cuban State appears to know no limits when it comes to strategies for milking the last penny out of those who visit the island. Even Havana’s sprawling Necropolis de Colon cemetery is used as a tourist trap. I became aware of this while trying to show it to a Latin American friend, a lover of Cuba and its revolution.
A new local film titled “Fatima, or Fraternity Park” is about to be released in Cuban theaters, a new addition to the shy list of Cuban films dealing with gay issues. Renowned actor and director Jorge Perugorria (who played a homosexual intellectual in “Strawberry and Chocolate”) is the director.