The Double Standard of CENESEX and Mariela Castro (Video)

Luis Rondon Paz

HAVANA TIMES – The response of Mariela Castro Espin, director of the National Center for Sex Education in Havana, before and after the events of May 11th in the Cuban capital, has been a great disappointment to many people who admired her as the leading voice for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

Bearing in mind that after more than 10 years have passed since the marches against homophobia began in Cuba, the political context the country is experiencing, and its setback with the elimination of gay marriage as a proposal for the new Constitution of Cuba, has shown once again the homophobic nature of the Cuban regime.

Likewise, Mariela Castro was its main accomplice in giving the order to suspend the only day of the year that non-heterosexual people can publicly denounce the rights that for more than six decades have been taken away from the sexually diverse on the island.

And the most pathetic thing is that, Mariela, in an act of desperation, for not having control of what happened in Havana on Saturday, May 11, has blamed US imperialism for having orchestrated a show.

What show are we talking about?

In fact, the biggest show has been put on by the Cenesex under Castro’s direction in complicity with the Cuban dictatorship. For a decade, they have tried to sell the country to the world as a gay paradise, the perfect place for any foreigner who visits Cuba, to abuse its residents and enjoy what few could access until a few years ago.

The images of the police repression, the disappearances and the open homophobia of the Cuban government are going around the world. Cuba never was and is not free!, and I fear that it will not be for a good time.

From exile, I send my support to my Cuban compatriots. I hope that from what happened on Saturday, May 11, 2019, the countries of the first world will think twice to invite officials like Mariela to their LGBTQ+ events, since she is not Lesbian, Gay or even Bisexual!

As a queer man, and who had the opportunity to know her closely; she has not been more than another opportunist within the Castro regime, and she has taken advantage of her surname with her symbolic power to use the suffering of the LGBTQ+ community in her favor.

This is very much in line with the strategy used by the military dictatorship to control Cuban society, especially the sexually diverse persons, who in the 1960s were considered a potential threat to the Revolution and rounded up and subjected to a methodology used when the UMAP obligatory work camps were founded [1].  This shows, in essence, that this method of intelligence continues in force on the island, of course, with an overlapping nuance that sells to the international community the image of being a leader in human rights and democracy.

Today, the whole world has seen that the double standards of Mariela Castro and her cronies of the regime have been exposed. They have always remained firm to the communist principles inherited from European dictatorships.

I suspect that for decades they have prioritized keeping the LGBTQ+ community indoctrinated, and making them and the countries of the first world believe that progress has been made, and that with their leadership they will continue to advance “without haste, but without pause” on human rights for this diverse sector of the Island. When, in fact, they have been simulating a big lie all this time and on May 11th it was more than apparent for the entire world to see.

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[1] Mandatory work camps implemented in Cuba during the 1960s, known as the “Military Unit for Production Assistance”.