martes, 24 de septiembre de 2013

Montevideo y La Habana cooperarán en políticas sobre diversidad sexual

Montevideo y La Habana cooperarán en políticas sobre diversidad sexual
AGENCIAS | Montevideo | 24 Sep 2013 - 12:05 am.

Uruguay fue el segundo país latinoamericano en legalizar el matrimonio
homosexual.

Los gobiernos de Uruguay y Cuba firmarán esta semana un convenio para
cooperar en políticas públicas vinculadas a temas de diversidad sexual,
anunciaron autoridades en Montevideo, según AFP.

El convenio sobre intercambio técnico y asesoramiento recíproco en
materia de diversidad sexual y políticas públicas será firmado el
viernes, poco antes de la ya tradicional marcha por la diversidad,
indicó en conferencia de prensa Andrés Scagliola, director de Políticas
Sociales del Ministerio de Desarrollo Social (Mides).

"Es una apuesta a una cooperación sur-sur también en esta materia",
indicó Scagliola.

En la firma del convenio participará Mariela Castro, directora del
Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex).

"Uruguay ha avanzado muchísimo y con claridad" en materia de derechos
para la comunidad LGBT (lesbianas, gays, bisexuales y transgénero),
"pero ese avance nos dice que falta muchísimo en el día a día", aseguró
Scagliola.

El lunes se anunció la creación de un Consejo Consultivo de la
Diversidad Sexual, que busca ser un ámbito de intercambio entre el Mides
y las organizaciones sociales vinculadas a la diversidad.

Uruguay se convirtió en abril en el segundo país latinoamericano,
después de Argentina, en legalizar el matrimonio homosexual y las
primeras bodas entre personas del mismo sexo comenzaron a realizarse en
agosto.

Previamente, Uruguay había legalizado la unión civil de homosexuales y
la adopción de niños por parte de parejas del mismo sexo, además de
habilitar el cambio de nombre y sexo y el ingreso de homosexuales a las
Fuerzas Armadas.

En Cuba aún no ha sucedido nada de esto.

Source: "Montevideo y La Habana cooperarán en políticas sobre diversidad
sexual | Diario de Cuba" -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/cuba/1379973913_5211.html

lunes, 23 de septiembre de 2013

Latest Cuban Ministry of Health Statistics for HIV/AIDS

Latest Cuban Ministry of Health Statistics for HIV/AIDS / Wendy Iriepa
and Ignacio Estrada
Posted on September 22, 2013

Total number of people living with HIV/AIDS: 18,261
Total foreigners detected: 675

Havana:
Total Persons with HIV/AIDS: 8,660
Diagnosed 2012: 625
Total AIDS Cases: 3,765
People Living with HIV/AIDS: 6,982
Ambulatory Care System: 5,988

Total deaths: 1,434
Deaths from AIDS: 1,321
Deaths from Other Causes: 113

Children in the Study: 74
HIV-positive children: 16

Average Age of Most Affected: 20 – 24

Infected practicing transactional sex: 641, which is 7.3% of infected
cases .

Province with greatest number of persons engaged in prostitution:
Las Tunas with 116 cases; 27.4 %
Holguin 138 cases; 17.5 %
Camagüey 130 cases;17 %
Cienfuegos 74 cases; 17 %
Isle of Youth 25 cases; 14.4 %
Santa Clara – Figure Unconfirmed
Santiago de Cuba – Figure Unconfirmed
Guantanamo – Figure Unconfirmed
Havana – Population cannot be estimated because of transience.

In 2012 in Cuba 108 HIV-positive women gave birth.

Major Causes of Death :
- Poor Adherence to Therapeutics
- Loss of Observation
- Late Diagnosis

Cuba keeps open a total of 3 Sanitariums from a total of 14 that existed
from the 1980s through 2005.

Cuba today has a total of 6 Prisons for Prisoners with HIV/AIDS compared
to one existing at the end of the 1990s in the city of Santa Clara.

With a varying criminal population, between 400-675 inmates have
HIV/AID; fewer of them are women. One of the routes of infection is
self-inoculation [in regular prisons to escape that prison environment].

Cuba offers Antiretroviral Treatment to about 5,000 people. They have a
CD4 cell count below 350.

Cuba has never been able to reduce nor has it shown a reduction in the
rate of diagnosis since the diagnosis of the first cases. This figure is
constantly growing.

8 July 2013

Source: "Latest Cuban Ministry of Health Statistics for HIV/AIDS / Wendy
Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/latest-cuban-ministry-of-health-statistics-for-hivaids-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/

Homosexual Prisoners Suffer Abuse and Discrimination

Homosexual Prisoners Suffer Abuse and Discrimination / Frank E. Carranza
Lopez in the blog of Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Posted on September 22, 2013
By Frank E. Carranza Lopez, Agencia Decoro

(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net) — The alarming news came to us from Fausto
de la Caridad Urbay, President of the LGBT Liberal Youth of Cuba Front.

He is denied visits to gay prisoners at the HIV/AIDS special prison,
located a mile from the Maraguaco highway to San Jose de las Lajas in
the province Mayabeque. This prison has 5 internal sections, four for
men and one for women.

On 2 August 2013, he went to Section #2, medium security (the most
populous of the prison) to visit for four hours with family and friends
of the inmates. For years inmates have enjoyed this privilege without
hindrance. Most inmates are gay and along with visits from their family
receive visits from their respective partners.

Imagine the astonishment of the visitors when, after waiting some hours
for official entry, they were told that by superior orders only family
members could visit and no one else. The discontent caused quite a
commotion, followed by crude threats from the officials of internal
order (FOI), to which the families responded by asking to see the
director of the penitentiary, Jorge Luis Castillo. He did not show his
face and instead sent his second in command, who called himself Álvaro,
and who, upset and disrespectful to the gay community, told them, and I
quote, "Castillo is Castillo and I'm me and I don't care to allow gay
partners to visit here and if you don't like it you can complain as much
as or wherever you want and it won't do you any good, I'm in charge here."

After several minutes of protest, he decided to pass on the food the
visitors had brought, warning that this would be the last time and not
to take the trouble of returning.

Many of those prisoners are of the type called charity cases (with no
family), and only receive visits from their homosexual partners.

Currently the discontent within the facility is growing, daily
irritation increases, after the surprise inspection of high officials
from the Cuban Interior Ministry (MININT) triggered by a complaint
issued on June 27 by CUBANET, any return of the previous visitors makes
things worse.

The repression increased, the food returned to its original inedible and
indescribable state, vitamin K disappeared again along with injectable
Dipirona, and as if that weren't enough it seems the deputy director of
the prison, Señor Álvaro, carried out a coup d'etat against his superior
and won, playing the part of the Grim Reaper with the threads of the
lives of the inmates who require specialized care given their state as
patients with HIV/AIDS.

10 August 2013

Source: "Homosexual Prisoners Suffer Abuse and Discrimination / Frank E.
Carranza Lopez in the blog of Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada |
Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/homosexual-prisoners-suffer-abuse-and-discrimination-frank-e-carranza-lopez-in-blog-of-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/

miércoles, 4 de septiembre de 2013

Ella, su novia y las ganas de irse

Ella, su novia y las ganas de irse
septiembre 3, 2013
Luis Miguel del Bahia

HAVANA TIMES — "M" hace unos años que decidió tener novia y todas las
miradas del barrio se volvieron hacia ella. "X", su pareja, desde los
cinco años duerme en la sala en un espacio reducido junto a otras cuatro
personas.

M y X llevan tres años y se quieren mucho, según me cuentan. M tiene una
casa con varias habitaciones y vive sola con su madre. Vivieron las tres
juntas durante un tiempo hasta que la suegra se acordó que era suegra y
todo fue a mal. Alguna traza de homofobia debía de quedarse.

Viven lejos la una de la otra, como a extremos de la ciudad. En el
tiempo que llevan juntas han tenido que superar muchísimas cosas, entre
ellas: tener que irse cada una por su lado luego de una fiesta, bien
entrada la noche; encontrarse en un parque o una escalera; hasta pagar
cinco CUC de vez en cuando –tres o cuatro meses- para poder tener
relaciones sexuales.

X, además, tiene noveno grado y ninguna esperanza de encontrar un
trabajo bien remunerado. Me cuenta que su SUEÑO, así con mayúscula, es
irse del país. Yo con experiencia diferente le cuento el por qué regrese
a vivir aquí y no me gusta "afuera". Ambos coincidimos en que nos
encanta La Habana, pero ella tiene la vista fija en su sueño.

Enseguida les pregunto si no se extrañarían y si valdría la pena una
vida mejor a sacrificio del amor. Y en esto ambas coinciden que es mejor
quedar como amigas que vivir como lo hacen. Hasta se preguntan cómo han
podido durar tanto.

Una se va en la guagua, la otra se queda, se despiden con un adiós, una
noche fría y un montón de kilómetros entre sus cuerpos.

Con las nuevas políticas el Estado pretende, en cierta forma, hacer
regresar a sus emigrados. En tanto, prácticamente obligan a otros a
irse. La titulitos*, la dificultad de los jóvenes para conseguir un
trabajo digno, etc.

*Necesidad de titulación para obtener empleo.

Source: "Ella, su novia y las ganas de irse de Cuba" -
http://www.havanatimes.org/sp/?p=90358

The Girl, her Girlfriend and the Wish to Leave Cuba

The Girl, her Girlfriend and the Wish to Leave Cuba
September 3, 2013
Luis Miguel del Bahia

HAVANA TIMES — Some years ago, "M" started going out with a girl and all
eyes in the neighborhood turned towards her. "X"., her partner, has been
living in a very small house with four relatives, where she is forced to
sleep in the living room, since she was five.

M and X tell me they have been together for three years and love each
other very much. M has a house with several bedrooms and lives only with
her mother. The three lived together for a while until the mother-in-law
remembered her social function and everything went downhill from there.
Some measure of homophobia must have had a say in that.

The couple now live far from each other, at opposite ends of the city.
In the time they've been together, they've had to deal with many
problems, like having to go their separate ways late at night after a
party, having to meet furtively at a park or underneath a stairwell,
even having to pay 5 Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) to rent out a room
and be able to have sex away from prying eyes.

X, who only got as far as the ninth grade, has no hope of finding a
well-paid job. She tells me her DREAM, her dream in capital letters, is
to leave the country. I tell her of my own experience as an immigrant
and why I chose to return to Cuba, that I don't like living "abroad." We
both agree Havana is a marvelous city, but she has her heart set on her
dream.

I immediately ask them if they think they would miss each other and
whether a more comfortable life would be worth sacrificing love. The two
agree that it would be better to simply be friends than to live as they
do. They even ask themselves how they've managed to last this long.

One catches a bus, the other stays behind. They say goodbye to each
other. It is a cold night and their bodies will be separated by many
kilometers.

With its new policies, the Cuban State hopes, to a certain extent, to
have some of its émigrés return to the country. In the meantime, making
it difficult for young people to find decorous employment, it
practically forces others to leave.

Source: "The Girl, her Girlfriend and the Wish to Leave Cuba" -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=98530

lunes, 2 de septiembre de 2013

Petition To the National Assembly of People’s Power of the Republic of Cuba

Petition To the National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of
Cuba / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Posted on September 1, 2013
Havana, 26 June 2013

To the National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of Cuba:

The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba in its Article 63, reads verbatim:

All citizens have the right to lodge complaints and petitions to the
authorities and to receive attention or pertinent responses within a
reasonable time, in accordance with the law.

And in accordance with its letter and spirit, we the undersigned are
addressing that maximum level of government in the nation with the
following.

CITIZEN PETITION

According to principles reflected in the Preamble to the Yogyakarta
Principles with regards to the application of international law of human
rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, and
establishing that:

"RECALLING that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights, and that everyone is entitled to the enjoyment of human rights
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status;

"DISTURBED that violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion,
stigmatisation and prejudice are directed against persons in all regions
of the world because of their sexual orientation or gender identity…

"NOTING that international human rights law imposes an absolute
prohibition of discrimination in regard to the full enjoyment of all
human rights, civil, cultural, economic, political and social, that
respect for sexual rights, sexual orientation and gender identity is
integral to the realization of equality between men and women and that
States must take measures to seek to eliminate prejudices and customs
based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of one sex or on
stereotyped roles for men and women…"

Considering that in our country such conceptions are still very far from
being met within Cuban society and are not reflected in the legislation,
we believe it appropriate to REQUEST:

The official acceptance and compliance with the Agreements of Yogyakarta.
That national authorities undertake a wide investigation of everything
related to that negative event in our history known as Military Units to
Aid Production (UMAP) and the results be published in the national media .
That those responsible for these adverse events are brought to justice
for the repeated and massive violation of human rights violation of an
indefinite number of Cuban citizens.
That the use and arbitrary application of the concept "state of
dangerousnous" in the existing Criminal Code against persons for the
sole "crime" of sexual orientation be publicly explained.
That a public debate is opened on the forced exile many homosexual
citizens were subjected to.
That the violent deaths of some homosexuals on the streets or other
locations be explained.
And, for your information, we are are submitting this issue to the
People's Power at that same time we open this document for signature by
citizens who want to do so.

Wendy Iriepa Díaz
Ignacio Estrada Cepero

8 July 2013

Source: "Petition To the National Assembly of People's Power of the
Republic of Cuba / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada | Translating Cuba"
-
http://translatingcuba.com/petition-to-the-national-assembly-of-peoples-power-of-the-republic-of-cuba-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/