Political Indoctrination for Cuba’s Children

Yenisel Rodriguez Perez

HAVANA TIMES — “Para saber mañana” (To Know Tomorrow) is the leading program in the government media campaign seeking to indoctrinate the younger generation of Cubans with the time-worn and fraudulent ideology of the “Cuban Revolution.”

With children’s programs like this, they daily violate the rights of children in our country.

This is something extremely serious, even more so when the Cuban government is called before the Convention of the Rights of the Child to certify programs appropriate for these youth.

Although defining what’s appropriate for children is a controversial issue, there’s no doubt that the exacerbated and de-contextualized ideologicalization and politicization of children’s imagery is a serious violation of the processes of education and instruction at that stage of life.

What role, then, does the UNICEF office in Cuba play by not commenting on this fact?

We know that the Convention of the Rights of the Child doesn’t require compliance by those governments, such as Cuba’s, that have signed and ratified its declarations.

That’s why it’s important to be aware of the reports that the Cuban government presents each year to the United Nations committee that’s devoted to the issue.

This allows one to be aware of the examples used to empirically support that manipulated optimism that each year effectively defines the civic culture of Cuban children.

How does Para saber mañana fit in with the political needs of children?

What type of popular referendum or psycho-educational diagnosis can the directors of the program base themselves on to justify the “utilization” of such concepts as “Liberty or death,” “Study, Work and Arms for National Defense” or “Imperialism”?

The script for Para saber mañana is sadly predictable. On top of an incoherent and improvised aesthetic is poured a torrent of political slogans, historical dates and party directives that leave the youngsters stunned.

The scriptwriters don’t use much educational design skill to adapt the contents of their ideological tracts to the intellectual capabilities of their viewers and readers.

The children receive a dose of political indoctrination in a brutal and unlimited manner.