Agencia de viajes estrena en Cuba un tour para comunidad gay y lesbiana
El programa que oferta se escapa del turismo habitual para que los
viajeros vivan lo que se conoce como una experiencia "gay friendly". Sus
promotores dicen que la demanda crece y que "el tour ofrecido en
noviembre se agotó".
Enrique Aguado
abril 28, 2015
La agencia de viajes Out in Cuba ha anunciado tours enfocados a la
comunidad gay y lesbiana que buscan una alternativa turística diferente
a la que se suele vivir en la isla.
Según indicó uno de los propietarios de esta empresa, Charles Kimball,
uno de los motivos que les llevaron a abrir este servicio es que "tengo
familia en Cuba y quería ofrecer a nuestros huéspedes la oportunidad de
experimentar Cuba desde un entorno económico y gay". De acuerdo a sus
previsiones, la demanda es alta, ya que "el tour ofrecido en noviembre
se agotó".
Este tour para el colectivo LGBT no ofrece la experiencia habitual de
Cuba para los extranjeros, con hoteles de cinco estrellas, buenos
restaurantes y visitas a lugares ya establecidos como galerías de arte o
fábricas de textiles. En cambio, se centra en mostrar la vida de los
cubanos tal y como es, con la idea de "experimentar lo mejor de Cuba".
Este tipo de tours, que no tienen ningún componente sexual, como
explican en su web, pretende que los viajeros vivan lo que se conoce
como una experiencia "gay friendly".
Para ello, la mayor parte del tiempo se emplea en La Habana, ciudad en
la que se come y se pernocta en casas particulares y desde la que se
realizan salidas para bailar, nadar o encontrarse con otras personas que
comparten los mismos intereses, entre los que citan a "artistas,
historiadores, escritores o gente que lucha por la igualdad de derechos
de los gais".
El objetivo no es ofrecer visitas, sino crear un vínculo de amistad
entre toda la gente con la que se convive durante esos días, entre los
que están los anfitriones de la casa donde se duerme, los conductores
del auto o los dueños de los paladares donde se come.
Esta nueva forma de hacer turismo en Cuba, que se suma al anuncio del
primer crucero LGBT con destino a la isla que llegará en 2016, pretende,
según sus promotores, experiencias personales diferentes, siempre desde
una "perspectiva gay". "Cuba es un país seguro y los viajeros LGBT son
bienvenidos con una sonrisa y los brazos abiertos", dicen en su reclamo
para los tours.
Source: Agencia de viajes estrena en Cuba un tour para comunidad gay y
lesbiana -
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/agencia-estrena-tours-gays-y-lesbianas-en-cuba/92002.html
miércoles, 29 de abril de 2015
martes, 28 de abril de 2015
MCC founder to lead delegation to Cuba
April 26, 2015 | by Michael K. Lavers
MCC founder to lead delegation to Cuba
The founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches this week will lead a
delegation to Cuba that will meet with the island's LGBT rights
advocates and religious leaders.
Rev. Troy Perry and his husband, Phillip De Blieck, and other leading
MCC clergy are scheduled to arrive in Havana on April 28.
Perry told the Washington Blade last week during a telephone interview
from his Los Angeles home that he is scheduled to meet with Mariela
Castro Espín, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro who directs the
country's National Center for Sexual Education that spearheads
LGBT-specific causes.
Perry noted the 14-day trip coincides with the annual series of events
that CENESEX organizes across the Communist country to commemorate the
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. He is scheduled to
take part in a roundtable with Mariela Castro's group and will bless
Cuban same-sex couples during a Pride march in Havana on May 9.
"I'm really thrilled to be able to be there to be part of the march,"
Perry told the Blade.
The Federation of Cuban Baptist Churches, which operates independently
of the government, but largely support the ideals of the 1959 Cuban
Revolution, has invited Rev. Mona West to speak about LGBT-specific
issues at a seminary in the city of Matanzas on April 29. Members of
Abriendo Brechas de Colores, a Cuban LGBT Baptist group, will also
attend the event.
Perry told the Blade that members of the delegation will discuss the
U.S. LGBT rights movement at the Havana's Martin Luther King Center,
which describes itself on its website as a "macro ecumenical
organization of Christian inspiration that the Cuban people and its
churches prophetically contribute to solidarity and popular, conscious,
organized and critical participation based on a Socialist model."
Members of his delegation are also scheduled to meet with what he
described as a "closed" group of Cuban Christians "who are afraid to
reveal their sexual orientation."
The trip coincides with the ongoing process to normalize relations
between the U.S. and Cuba that President Obama announced late last year.
It will also take place against the backdrop of the growing visibility
of LGBT rights advocates on the island — especially among those who are
affiliated with CENESEX and support the Cuban government.
Perry applauded Mariela Castro for her efforts to organize the events
around the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia and
other initiatives that she and her supporters maintain have expanded
rights to LGBT Cubans. These include free sex reassignment surgery under
the country's health care system, although critics contend only a few
dozen people have been able to access the procedure since the policy
took effect in 2008.
Mariela Castro, who is a member of the Cuban Parliament, in late 2013
voted against a proposal to add sexual orientation to the country's
labor law because it did not include gender identity.
"She has done things that have amazed me," Perry told the Blade.
Perry acknowledges concerns over Cuba's human rights record
Critics of Mariela Castro and her group maintain that CENESEX is not
representative of what they insist is the country's actual LGBT rights
movement.
Perry told the Blade that members of his delegation plan to meet with
Mario José Delgado González of the Divine Hope LGBTI Christian Group,
which seeks to promote acceptance of LGBT Cubans within the country's
churches. Delgado said in February that he was unable to attend a
meeting with members of a Code Pink delegation in Havana because the
police prevented him from attending.
Delgado on Sunday did not immediately return the Blade's request for
comment.
"We will see once I get there what transpires and what happens," Perry
told the Blade. "I have never backed away from things."
"I do understand though and I know Mariela Castro is the key to a lot of
things there," he added. "I believe with all my heart that having
someone who's a member of the National Assembly taking our issues to the
Cuban government is very, very important. Throughout my life I've tried
to meet with people on both sides of the issue."
Perry added he plans to raise Cuba's human rights record with members of
the government with whom he may meet while on the island.
"[I will] make sure as I talk to the government officers there to say to
them that locking up people's not the issue," he said, noting three
presidents have invited him to the White House in spite of his arrest
outside the Executive Mansion in the 1980s during the Reagan
administration. "That doesn't help."
Perry and members of the MCC delegation will travel to Cuba roughly
three months before members of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington will
perform at five concerts on the Communist island.
Source: MCC founder to lead delegation to Cuba -
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/04/26/mcc-founder-to-lead-delegation-to-cuba/
MCC founder to lead delegation to Cuba
The founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches this week will lead a
delegation to Cuba that will meet with the island's LGBT rights
advocates and religious leaders.
Rev. Troy Perry and his husband, Phillip De Blieck, and other leading
MCC clergy are scheduled to arrive in Havana on April 28.
Perry told the Washington Blade last week during a telephone interview
from his Los Angeles home that he is scheduled to meet with Mariela
Castro Espín, daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro who directs the
country's National Center for Sexual Education that spearheads
LGBT-specific causes.
Perry noted the 14-day trip coincides with the annual series of events
that CENESEX organizes across the Communist country to commemorate the
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. He is scheduled to
take part in a roundtable with Mariela Castro's group and will bless
Cuban same-sex couples during a Pride march in Havana on May 9.
"I'm really thrilled to be able to be there to be part of the march,"
Perry told the Blade.
The Federation of Cuban Baptist Churches, which operates independently
of the government, but largely support the ideals of the 1959 Cuban
Revolution, has invited Rev. Mona West to speak about LGBT-specific
issues at a seminary in the city of Matanzas on April 29. Members of
Abriendo Brechas de Colores, a Cuban LGBT Baptist group, will also
attend the event.
Perry told the Blade that members of the delegation will discuss the
U.S. LGBT rights movement at the Havana's Martin Luther King Center,
which describes itself on its website as a "macro ecumenical
organization of Christian inspiration that the Cuban people and its
churches prophetically contribute to solidarity and popular, conscious,
organized and critical participation based on a Socialist model."
Members of his delegation are also scheduled to meet with what he
described as a "closed" group of Cuban Christians "who are afraid to
reveal their sexual orientation."
The trip coincides with the ongoing process to normalize relations
between the U.S. and Cuba that President Obama announced late last year.
It will also take place against the backdrop of the growing visibility
of LGBT rights advocates on the island — especially among those who are
affiliated with CENESEX and support the Cuban government.
Perry applauded Mariela Castro for her efforts to organize the events
around the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia and
other initiatives that she and her supporters maintain have expanded
rights to LGBT Cubans. These include free sex reassignment surgery under
the country's health care system, although critics contend only a few
dozen people have been able to access the procedure since the policy
took effect in 2008.
Mariela Castro, who is a member of the Cuban Parliament, in late 2013
voted against a proposal to add sexual orientation to the country's
labor law because it did not include gender identity.
"She has done things that have amazed me," Perry told the Blade.
Perry acknowledges concerns over Cuba's human rights record
Critics of Mariela Castro and her group maintain that CENESEX is not
representative of what they insist is the country's actual LGBT rights
movement.
Perry told the Blade that members of his delegation plan to meet with
Mario José Delgado González of the Divine Hope LGBTI Christian Group,
which seeks to promote acceptance of LGBT Cubans within the country's
churches. Delgado said in February that he was unable to attend a
meeting with members of a Code Pink delegation in Havana because the
police prevented him from attending.
Delgado on Sunday did not immediately return the Blade's request for
comment.
"We will see once I get there what transpires and what happens," Perry
told the Blade. "I have never backed away from things."
"I do understand though and I know Mariela Castro is the key to a lot of
things there," he added. "I believe with all my heart that having
someone who's a member of the National Assembly taking our issues to the
Cuban government is very, very important. Throughout my life I've tried
to meet with people on both sides of the issue."
Perry added he plans to raise Cuba's human rights record with members of
the government with whom he may meet while on the island.
"[I will] make sure as I talk to the government officers there to say to
them that locking up people's not the issue," he said, noting three
presidents have invited him to the White House in spite of his arrest
outside the Executive Mansion in the 1980s during the Reagan
administration. "That doesn't help."
Perry and members of the MCC delegation will travel to Cuba roughly
three months before members of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington will
perform at five concerts on the Communist island.
Source: MCC founder to lead delegation to Cuba -
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/04/26/mcc-founder-to-lead-delegation-to-cuba/
lunes, 27 de abril de 2015
Adolescentes para turismo gay
Adolescentes para turismo gay
Lisdany, de 17 años, confiesa que sus padres saben de su "oficio" y no
tiene conflictos porque en un día gana "más que un médico en un mes"
lunes, abril 27, 2015 | Ernesto Pérez Chang
LA HABANA, Cuba. — No son pocos los sitios digitales de viaje y blogs de
tema gay que comienzan a recomendar la visita del cabaret Las Vegas,
situado en la calle Infanta. Este centro nocturno, muy cercano a La
Rampa y el Malecón, se ha convertido en visita obligatoria para aquellos
extranjeros que viajan a La Habana con el único fin de hacer turismo
sexual. A la vez, el lugar ha generado un micromundo peculiar muy
difícil de comparar con otras realidades en apariencias similares.
Alrededor de Las Vegas todo transcurre como en una dimensión diferente,
paralela a los otros contextos habaneros de la prostitución masculina,
el proxenetismo y las drogas. Por ejemplo, los cuerpos de jóvenes y
adolescentes se venden a precios hasta diez veces por encima de lo que
suelen cobrar los llamados "pingueros" en cualquier otro lugar de La
Habana; o los alquileres por horas, clandestinos, redoblan y hasta
triplican las tarifas, debido a la altísima demanda de quienes acuden al
lugar para gozar de la usual "tolerancia" de una zona donde la policía
pocas veces interviene, a no ser por una riña o un hecho violento
relacionado con el pandillerismo.
Según Juan Carlos, de 23 años, las áreas cercanas al cabaret Las Vegas
son una zona de "pesca fácil" donde, al menos él, puede irse todos los
días con 50 y hasta 100 dólares sin mucho esfuerzo:
"Los fines de semana, después de las 11, esto se pone bueno. (…) Todos
los turistas vienen a ligar y también muchos cubanos que tienen cómo
pagar. (…) Yo no me voy con cubanos porque pagan muy poco y piden mucho,
demasiado [se ríe]. Los extranjeros te dan 30 o 40 dólares solo por
sentarse un rato con ellos, tocarte un poco. A veces te regalan cosas.
Este celular [muestra un teléfono que en Cuba suele estar valorado sobre
los 200 dólares] me lo regaló un canadiense y yo solo le di unos besitos
y ya".
Lisdany, un adolescente de solo 17 años, dice acudir todos los fines de
semana a Las Vegas, aunque el resto de la semana frecuenta los
alrededores en busca de turistas. Confiesa que sus padres están al tanto
de su "oficio" y que esto no le ha creado conflictos familiares porque
en un día gana "más que un médico en un mes":
"En mi casa todo el mundo sabe que yo ando en esto. (…) La escuela no da
nada, eso es perder el tiempo. (…) Cuando mi papá se enteró se puso como
loco pero después se le fue pasando porque sabe que esto es normal y yo
compro de todo en la casa. Mi jeva [novia] sabe que yo ando en esto y
también ella hace sus cosas junto conmigo. Hay yumas a los que le gusta
eso de mirar, y pagan más. (…) Yo empecé a los 14, un día estuve con un
mexicano que me dio 40 dólares, eso fue en el Parque Central, hasta que
descubrí que aquí en Las Vegas pagaban más. (…) Ya yo no voy por el
[Cine] Payret. Además, allí con eso de los americanos dando vueltas, han
abierto un fuego que no queda nadie".
Gilberto, vecino del lugar, vive de alquilar habitaciones para
encuentros ocasionales. Su negocio, aunque clandestino, es muy conocido
entre los "jineteros" que frecuentan Las Vegas debido a que suele cobrar
mucho menos que los demás:
"Por aquí hay gente que cobra hasta 5 dólares la hora, yo solo cobro 3.
Aquí mismo [se refiere a su mismo edificio] hay uno que cobra 10 dólares
la hora, claro, eso está mejor que un hotel, tiene espejos en todas las
paredes, la gente también va a meterse cualquier cosa [drogarse] y eso
es candela. Pero aun pidiendo 3 dólares yo gano porque esto aquí no
para. Es todo el día. Los fines de semana yo tengo gente haciendo cola.
(…) Aquí vienen hasta niñitos que yo calculo que no tienen ni 12 años
(…). No, yo no los dejo entrar. Eso es un problema si me cogen. Ya
bastante que la policía no me molesta porque yo sé cómo tenerlos
tranquilos. Aquí han venido policías con travestis, policías vestidos de
uniforme, para que tú sepas. Aquí se ve de todo. Ya yo no me asombro.
(…) Los precios no es porque la gente le cobre más a los gay sino por la
demanda. Yo no tengo problemas con los gay".
Osiris tiene 28 años y desde los 20 vive de prostituirse. A los 22
decidió vestirse de mujer y dice que su condición de travesti le otorga
ventajas sobre los "pingueros":
"Antes, a pesar de que era más joven, solo hacía 5 o 10 dólares en una
noche. Claro, yo era de la "bajeza" y vivía y moría en el Parque Central
y en la playa del Chivo (…). Ahora yo hago más de 100 dólares en un día.
Los extranjeros vienen buscando eso a Las Vegas, no pingueritos ni
negros. Travesti, eso es lo que es. Incluso los pingueros, después que
hacen su dinero, vienen para acá a gastárselo con un travesti. A todos
ellos, aunque tengan mujeres, les gustan los travesti. (…) Claro que hay
discriminación. Que ahora la policía no se meta con nosotros no quiere
decir que nos acepten. Niño, esto le da más dinero al país que las
misiones médicas. Si cierran Las Vegas, y el Humboldt [otro cabaret en
la calle Humboldt, en el Vedado] o nos cargan a todos [los llevan a
prisión] como hacían antes, este país se queda sin turismo. A Cuba la
gente solo viene a templar [tener sexo], para eso hemos quedado".
A pesar de que la mayoría de los "jineteros" reconocen que en las
inmediaciones del cabaret Las Vegas la prostitución es mucho más
tolerada y las "tarifas" por los servicios sexuales son más elevadas,
hay otros que aseguran que el acoso policial en otras áreas de la ciudad
ha afectado el "negocio".
Yanier, un joven pinareño de 27 años, nos comenta: "Antes sí se ganaba
bien, pero ahora han venido todos esos palestinos [se les llama así a
los cubanos provenientes de las provincias orientales sin residencia
legal en La Habana] que antes andaban por el Parque Central y han puesto
la cosa mala. Antes los turistas te daban 30 o 50 fulas de entrada pero
ahora que saben que hay pingueros que piden 5 o 10 fulas, y hasta los
hay de "bajo costo" que se van por 1 dólar, ya no quieren irse por más
de eso. No creas nada de eso de que se van por 100. Ni por 20 se están
yendo. Te lo digo yo que llevo años en esto. Eso lo dicen para hacerse.
Aquí es como en todos lados, la gente se hace la que tiene mucho. Hay
noches que yo me he ido en blanco. Los fines de semana esto es una nata
de gente, la competencia es mucha y los turistas vienen buscando carne
fresca, bebitos de teta. Esto a veces parece una escuela primaria. Ya yo
soy viejo para los yumas".
Para algunos, la rehabilitación del Capitolio para alojar al llamado
"parlamento" cubano ha traído consigo un plan para "maquillar" una zona
de la ciudad conocida por sus altísimos niveles de prostitución; para
otros, la cercanía del Hotel Saratoga, donde usualmente se hospedan
norteamericanos relacionados directa o indirectamente con los ciclos de
conversaciones Cuba-Estados Unidos, ha desatado una cacería contra los
llamados "jineteros" que se han visto obligados a desplazarse hacia las
zonas más céntricas del Vedado donde existe cierta tolerancia policial
y, en consecuencia, un incremento de fenómenos como la prostitución
infantil, el proxenetismo y las pandillas.
Source: Adolescentes para turismo gay | Cubanet -
http://www.cubanet.org/destacados/la-habana-adolescentes-para-turistas-gay/
Lisdany, de 17 años, confiesa que sus padres saben de su "oficio" y no
tiene conflictos porque en un día gana "más que un médico en un mes"
lunes, abril 27, 2015 | Ernesto Pérez Chang
LA HABANA, Cuba. — No son pocos los sitios digitales de viaje y blogs de
tema gay que comienzan a recomendar la visita del cabaret Las Vegas,
situado en la calle Infanta. Este centro nocturno, muy cercano a La
Rampa y el Malecón, se ha convertido en visita obligatoria para aquellos
extranjeros que viajan a La Habana con el único fin de hacer turismo
sexual. A la vez, el lugar ha generado un micromundo peculiar muy
difícil de comparar con otras realidades en apariencias similares.
Alrededor de Las Vegas todo transcurre como en una dimensión diferente,
paralela a los otros contextos habaneros de la prostitución masculina,
el proxenetismo y las drogas. Por ejemplo, los cuerpos de jóvenes y
adolescentes se venden a precios hasta diez veces por encima de lo que
suelen cobrar los llamados "pingueros" en cualquier otro lugar de La
Habana; o los alquileres por horas, clandestinos, redoblan y hasta
triplican las tarifas, debido a la altísima demanda de quienes acuden al
lugar para gozar de la usual "tolerancia" de una zona donde la policía
pocas veces interviene, a no ser por una riña o un hecho violento
relacionado con el pandillerismo.
Según Juan Carlos, de 23 años, las áreas cercanas al cabaret Las Vegas
son una zona de "pesca fácil" donde, al menos él, puede irse todos los
días con 50 y hasta 100 dólares sin mucho esfuerzo:
"Los fines de semana, después de las 11, esto se pone bueno. (…) Todos
los turistas vienen a ligar y también muchos cubanos que tienen cómo
pagar. (…) Yo no me voy con cubanos porque pagan muy poco y piden mucho,
demasiado [se ríe]. Los extranjeros te dan 30 o 40 dólares solo por
sentarse un rato con ellos, tocarte un poco. A veces te regalan cosas.
Este celular [muestra un teléfono que en Cuba suele estar valorado sobre
los 200 dólares] me lo regaló un canadiense y yo solo le di unos besitos
y ya".
Lisdany, un adolescente de solo 17 años, dice acudir todos los fines de
semana a Las Vegas, aunque el resto de la semana frecuenta los
alrededores en busca de turistas. Confiesa que sus padres están al tanto
de su "oficio" y que esto no le ha creado conflictos familiares porque
en un día gana "más que un médico en un mes":
"En mi casa todo el mundo sabe que yo ando en esto. (…) La escuela no da
nada, eso es perder el tiempo. (…) Cuando mi papá se enteró se puso como
loco pero después se le fue pasando porque sabe que esto es normal y yo
compro de todo en la casa. Mi jeva [novia] sabe que yo ando en esto y
también ella hace sus cosas junto conmigo. Hay yumas a los que le gusta
eso de mirar, y pagan más. (…) Yo empecé a los 14, un día estuve con un
mexicano que me dio 40 dólares, eso fue en el Parque Central, hasta que
descubrí que aquí en Las Vegas pagaban más. (…) Ya yo no voy por el
[Cine] Payret. Además, allí con eso de los americanos dando vueltas, han
abierto un fuego que no queda nadie".
Gilberto, vecino del lugar, vive de alquilar habitaciones para
encuentros ocasionales. Su negocio, aunque clandestino, es muy conocido
entre los "jineteros" que frecuentan Las Vegas debido a que suele cobrar
mucho menos que los demás:
"Por aquí hay gente que cobra hasta 5 dólares la hora, yo solo cobro 3.
Aquí mismo [se refiere a su mismo edificio] hay uno que cobra 10 dólares
la hora, claro, eso está mejor que un hotel, tiene espejos en todas las
paredes, la gente también va a meterse cualquier cosa [drogarse] y eso
es candela. Pero aun pidiendo 3 dólares yo gano porque esto aquí no
para. Es todo el día. Los fines de semana yo tengo gente haciendo cola.
(…) Aquí vienen hasta niñitos que yo calculo que no tienen ni 12 años
(…). No, yo no los dejo entrar. Eso es un problema si me cogen. Ya
bastante que la policía no me molesta porque yo sé cómo tenerlos
tranquilos. Aquí han venido policías con travestis, policías vestidos de
uniforme, para que tú sepas. Aquí se ve de todo. Ya yo no me asombro.
(…) Los precios no es porque la gente le cobre más a los gay sino por la
demanda. Yo no tengo problemas con los gay".
Osiris tiene 28 años y desde los 20 vive de prostituirse. A los 22
decidió vestirse de mujer y dice que su condición de travesti le otorga
ventajas sobre los "pingueros":
"Antes, a pesar de que era más joven, solo hacía 5 o 10 dólares en una
noche. Claro, yo era de la "bajeza" y vivía y moría en el Parque Central
y en la playa del Chivo (…). Ahora yo hago más de 100 dólares en un día.
Los extranjeros vienen buscando eso a Las Vegas, no pingueritos ni
negros. Travesti, eso es lo que es. Incluso los pingueros, después que
hacen su dinero, vienen para acá a gastárselo con un travesti. A todos
ellos, aunque tengan mujeres, les gustan los travesti. (…) Claro que hay
discriminación. Que ahora la policía no se meta con nosotros no quiere
decir que nos acepten. Niño, esto le da más dinero al país que las
misiones médicas. Si cierran Las Vegas, y el Humboldt [otro cabaret en
la calle Humboldt, en el Vedado] o nos cargan a todos [los llevan a
prisión] como hacían antes, este país se queda sin turismo. A Cuba la
gente solo viene a templar [tener sexo], para eso hemos quedado".
A pesar de que la mayoría de los "jineteros" reconocen que en las
inmediaciones del cabaret Las Vegas la prostitución es mucho más
tolerada y las "tarifas" por los servicios sexuales son más elevadas,
hay otros que aseguran que el acoso policial en otras áreas de la ciudad
ha afectado el "negocio".
Yanier, un joven pinareño de 27 años, nos comenta: "Antes sí se ganaba
bien, pero ahora han venido todos esos palestinos [se les llama así a
los cubanos provenientes de las provincias orientales sin residencia
legal en La Habana] que antes andaban por el Parque Central y han puesto
la cosa mala. Antes los turistas te daban 30 o 50 fulas de entrada pero
ahora que saben que hay pingueros que piden 5 o 10 fulas, y hasta los
hay de "bajo costo" que se van por 1 dólar, ya no quieren irse por más
de eso. No creas nada de eso de que se van por 100. Ni por 20 se están
yendo. Te lo digo yo que llevo años en esto. Eso lo dicen para hacerse.
Aquí es como en todos lados, la gente se hace la que tiene mucho. Hay
noches que yo me he ido en blanco. Los fines de semana esto es una nata
de gente, la competencia es mucha y los turistas vienen buscando carne
fresca, bebitos de teta. Esto a veces parece una escuela primaria. Ya yo
soy viejo para los yumas".
Para algunos, la rehabilitación del Capitolio para alojar al llamado
"parlamento" cubano ha traído consigo un plan para "maquillar" una zona
de la ciudad conocida por sus altísimos niveles de prostitución; para
otros, la cercanía del Hotel Saratoga, donde usualmente se hospedan
norteamericanos relacionados directa o indirectamente con los ciclos de
conversaciones Cuba-Estados Unidos, ha desatado una cacería contra los
llamados "jineteros" que se han visto obligados a desplazarse hacia las
zonas más céntricas del Vedado donde existe cierta tolerancia policial
y, en consecuencia, un incremento de fenómenos como la prostitución
infantil, el proxenetismo y las pandillas.
Source: Adolescentes para turismo gay | Cubanet -
http://www.cubanet.org/destacados/la-habana-adolescentes-para-turistas-gay/
viernes, 10 de abril de 2015
Diversidad sexual incomprendida y censurada por una parte de la población cubana
Diversidad sexual incomprendida y censurada por una parte de la
población cubana
[09-04-2015 15:54:17]
Miriam Herrera
(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- Un individuo es agredido con piedras
lanzadas por desconocidos, el día 2 de abril de 2015 aproximadamente a
las 9:00 de la noche, en calle Amenidad entre Calixto García y Amenidad
municipio Guanabacoa La Habana, los agresores le gritaron frases
obscenas referentes a los homosexuales.
Pobladores segregacionistas asumen conductas agresivas contra los
homosexuales, la homofobia es un tema recurrente en Cuba, pendiente de
compresión, aceptación de los heterosexuales, presididos por historias
machistas, clasistas incompetentes de ver la intensidad de matices que
tiene la existencia, los seres humanos.
"Primero me gritaron cosas muy feas, seguidamente una lluvia de piedras
en mi espalda, varios jóvenes estaban escondidos en el portal de la
bodega, corrí a esconderme, el miedo me atrapó más nunca vengo a
Guanabacoa. Soy homosexual, trabajo, no me meto con nadie", aseveró
asustado Leandro Acosta, el agredido.
Mujeres y hombres soportan a diario la intolerancia de aquellos que no
admiten y censuran las peculiaridades de la homosexualidad, ellos tienen
el derecho humano y legislativo, de interrelación con integrantes de la
sociedad.
Lucrecia Peña, una transeúnte comenta: "tengo un hijo homosexual, si
alguien lo agrede se las tiene que ver conmigo, hay muchos homosexuales
dentro del closet, que agreden a los gay, deben ser multados por la
policía, los que en muchas ocasiones se hacen los ciegos…".
El Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex) promulga disposiciones
que tratan de proteger a los homosexuales, travestis y transgéneros de
rechazos y discriminación, pero bajo la sombrilla y vigilancia
gubernamental, lo que impide un real impacto de empoderamiento de la
comunidad gay. Muchas familias ocultan y reprimen, las diferencias
sexuales de sus integrantes ocasionando una huella imperecedera en los
mismos.
"Yo ni los miro sobre todo los hombres, los ves de mano por las calles,
en Cuba nunca se vio ese descaro, deberían prohibirles que se comporten
igual a las mujeres, y los niños mirándolos, los cubanos bien se dice
cuando no llegan se pasan" enfatizó Julio Sevilla, entrevistado sobre el
incidente ocurrido.
La compresión de la diversidad sexual, es compleja especialmente en
regiones donde la educación durante siglos ha sido identificada mediante
bases machistas, conservadoras, que no admiten lo diferente, cuando se
refiere a relaciones sensuales.
Los integrantes de las comunidades de lésbicas y homosexuales deben
incorporar a su actuar dentro de la sociedad el respeto, la abolición de
vulgaridades, expresiones excesivas de indecencias, lo que solo recibe
de los demás rechazo, comportamientos que no tiene que estar ceñidas con
preferencias sexuales.
Source: Diversidad sexual incomprendida y censurada por una parte de la
población cubana - Misceláneas de Cuba -
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/Article/Index/552684893a682e1a0c4177c4#.VSew7vmUc3Q
población cubana
[09-04-2015 15:54:17]
Miriam Herrera
(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- Un individuo es agredido con piedras
lanzadas por desconocidos, el día 2 de abril de 2015 aproximadamente a
las 9:00 de la noche, en calle Amenidad entre Calixto García y Amenidad
municipio Guanabacoa La Habana, los agresores le gritaron frases
obscenas referentes a los homosexuales.
Pobladores segregacionistas asumen conductas agresivas contra los
homosexuales, la homofobia es un tema recurrente en Cuba, pendiente de
compresión, aceptación de los heterosexuales, presididos por historias
machistas, clasistas incompetentes de ver la intensidad de matices que
tiene la existencia, los seres humanos.
"Primero me gritaron cosas muy feas, seguidamente una lluvia de piedras
en mi espalda, varios jóvenes estaban escondidos en el portal de la
bodega, corrí a esconderme, el miedo me atrapó más nunca vengo a
Guanabacoa. Soy homosexual, trabajo, no me meto con nadie", aseveró
asustado Leandro Acosta, el agredido.
Mujeres y hombres soportan a diario la intolerancia de aquellos que no
admiten y censuran las peculiaridades de la homosexualidad, ellos tienen
el derecho humano y legislativo, de interrelación con integrantes de la
sociedad.
Lucrecia Peña, una transeúnte comenta: "tengo un hijo homosexual, si
alguien lo agrede se las tiene que ver conmigo, hay muchos homosexuales
dentro del closet, que agreden a los gay, deben ser multados por la
policía, los que en muchas ocasiones se hacen los ciegos…".
El Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (Cenesex) promulga disposiciones
que tratan de proteger a los homosexuales, travestis y transgéneros de
rechazos y discriminación, pero bajo la sombrilla y vigilancia
gubernamental, lo que impide un real impacto de empoderamiento de la
comunidad gay. Muchas familias ocultan y reprimen, las diferencias
sexuales de sus integrantes ocasionando una huella imperecedera en los
mismos.
"Yo ni los miro sobre todo los hombres, los ves de mano por las calles,
en Cuba nunca se vio ese descaro, deberían prohibirles que se comporten
igual a las mujeres, y los niños mirándolos, los cubanos bien se dice
cuando no llegan se pasan" enfatizó Julio Sevilla, entrevistado sobre el
incidente ocurrido.
La compresión de la diversidad sexual, es compleja especialmente en
regiones donde la educación durante siglos ha sido identificada mediante
bases machistas, conservadoras, que no admiten lo diferente, cuando se
refiere a relaciones sensuales.
Los integrantes de las comunidades de lésbicas y homosexuales deben
incorporar a su actuar dentro de la sociedad el respeto, la abolición de
vulgaridades, expresiones excesivas de indecencias, lo que solo recibe
de los demás rechazo, comportamientos que no tiene que estar ceñidas con
preferencias sexuales.
Source: Diversidad sexual incomprendida y censurada por una parte de la
población cubana - Misceláneas de Cuba -
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/Article/Index/552684893a682e1a0c4177c4#.VSew7vmUc3Q
Cuba's emerging LGBT nightlife comes into focus
Cuba's emerging LGBT nightlife comes into focus
04/08/15 06:57 AM—UPDATED 04/08/15 06:58 AM
By Johnny Simon and Rebecca Sanchez
Proving true to the complexities of Cuba's social and political
climates, LGBT nightlife on the island is no less multifaceted.
Regular gay-oriented parties, which started to pop up a little more than
five years ago, are held in state-run clubs, but, technically listed as
"audio-visual projects," are not themselves state-run.
Still, despite the ongoing political alterations, there is still a lot
of fear in the LGBT community. Same-sex couples don't typically hold
hands in the streets. Even if accepted by their families, partners are
typically referred to simply as "friends," and coming out to the public
remains socially tense. It can still be difficult for LGBT people to
evade workplace discrimination, as well.
But this isn't the first time the island's political landscape has shifted.
Pre-revolution Cuba had several gay-friendly bars but very strict laws
criminalizing homosexuality and targeting gay men for harassment.
Homosexuality was linked to prostitution, especially in relation to
tourism, gambling and crime.
But the 1959 revolution eradicated the profitability that made
homosexuality more palatable in Cuban society, and the minimal tolerance
that had existed prior to the revolution quickly faded. Homophobia
became institutionalized. Suspected LGBT individuals were abused,
imprisoned and sent to labor camps— often without a charge or trial.
Cuban President Fidel Castro, while describing his admiration for rural
life, once famously said "in the country, there are no homosexuals,"
concluding that LGBT people were just agents of imperialism.
"We would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the
conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider
him a true Revolutionary, a true Communist militant," he said. "A
deviation of that nature clashes with the concept we have of what a
militant Communist must be."
Though same-sex relationships were technically decriminalized in 1979,
it wasn't until 1993 that Fidel Castro publicly stated his opposition to
policies against LGBT people. He said that he had come to understand
homosexuality as natural and apologized for the many years of
maltreatment under his government.
Following the long-time president's comments, the last two decades have
seen a gradual liberalization and slow changes around LGBT issues and
rights, albeit not without some major setbacks.
As an example, the Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians—the island's
only LGBT civil rights association—was formed in 1994, but shut down
just three years later, in 1997, ending in the arrest of all 18 founding
members.
Though gay marriage is still not legal and alternatives like legally
recognized same-sex unions have not yet passed the National Assembly of
People's Power, qualifying Cubans have had access to state-covered sex
reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments since 2008.
In 2013 the island celebrated its first International Day Against
Homophobia with a week of drag shows, marches and social and cultural
events throughout Havana.
Today, the National Center for Sex Education leads various educational
campaigns on LGBT issues. Programs to battle homophobia include HIV
education, school classes for students beginning at the age of five and
a televised soap opera featuring gay, lesbian and HIV positive people.
Cuban-American photographer Lisette Poole has been documenting the
country in transition, in particular the recent months since the United
States began taking steps to normalize relations with Cuba.
Take a look at this portrait of a community that is now asserting itself
after decades in the shadows.
Source: Cuba's emerging LGBT nightlife comes into focus | MSNBC -
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cubas-emerging-lgbt-nightlife-comes-focus
04/08/15 06:57 AM—UPDATED 04/08/15 06:58 AM
By Johnny Simon and Rebecca Sanchez
Proving true to the complexities of Cuba's social and political
climates, LGBT nightlife on the island is no less multifaceted.
Regular gay-oriented parties, which started to pop up a little more than
five years ago, are held in state-run clubs, but, technically listed as
"audio-visual projects," are not themselves state-run.
Still, despite the ongoing political alterations, there is still a lot
of fear in the LGBT community. Same-sex couples don't typically hold
hands in the streets. Even if accepted by their families, partners are
typically referred to simply as "friends," and coming out to the public
remains socially tense. It can still be difficult for LGBT people to
evade workplace discrimination, as well.
But this isn't the first time the island's political landscape has shifted.
Pre-revolution Cuba had several gay-friendly bars but very strict laws
criminalizing homosexuality and targeting gay men for harassment.
Homosexuality was linked to prostitution, especially in relation to
tourism, gambling and crime.
But the 1959 revolution eradicated the profitability that made
homosexuality more palatable in Cuban society, and the minimal tolerance
that had existed prior to the revolution quickly faded. Homophobia
became institutionalized. Suspected LGBT individuals were abused,
imprisoned and sent to labor camps— often without a charge or trial.
Cuban President Fidel Castro, while describing his admiration for rural
life, once famously said "in the country, there are no homosexuals,"
concluding that LGBT people were just agents of imperialism.
"We would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the
conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider
him a true Revolutionary, a true Communist militant," he said. "A
deviation of that nature clashes with the concept we have of what a
militant Communist must be."
Though same-sex relationships were technically decriminalized in 1979,
it wasn't until 1993 that Fidel Castro publicly stated his opposition to
policies against LGBT people. He said that he had come to understand
homosexuality as natural and apologized for the many years of
maltreatment under his government.
Following the long-time president's comments, the last two decades have
seen a gradual liberalization and slow changes around LGBT issues and
rights, albeit not without some major setbacks.
As an example, the Cuban Association of Gays and Lesbians—the island's
only LGBT civil rights association—was formed in 1994, but shut down
just three years later, in 1997, ending in the arrest of all 18 founding
members.
Though gay marriage is still not legal and alternatives like legally
recognized same-sex unions have not yet passed the National Assembly of
People's Power, qualifying Cubans have had access to state-covered sex
reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments since 2008.
In 2013 the island celebrated its first International Day Against
Homophobia with a week of drag shows, marches and social and cultural
events throughout Havana.
Today, the National Center for Sex Education leads various educational
campaigns on LGBT issues. Programs to battle homophobia include HIV
education, school classes for students beginning at the age of five and
a televised soap opera featuring gay, lesbian and HIV positive people.
Cuban-American photographer Lisette Poole has been documenting the
country in transition, in particular the recent months since the United
States began taking steps to normalize relations with Cuba.
Take a look at this portrait of a community that is now asserting itself
after decades in the shadows.
Source: Cuba's emerging LGBT nightlife comes into focus | MSNBC -
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cubas-emerging-lgbt-nightlife-comes-focus
jueves, 2 de abril de 2015
Should Potatoes in Cuba be Rationed Once Again?
Should Potatoes in Cuba be Rationed Once Again?
April 1, 2015
Dmitri Prieto Samsónov
HAVANA TIMES — I try to avoid and evade the lines of people waiting to
buy potatoes. The tuber arrives this time of year, during Lent,
accompanied by people's undying potential for standing in line and
starting fights with one another, in defiance of all remotely Christian
feelings.
Trucks arriving from the countryside, loaded with sacks of earth-covered
root vegetables, park by the produce markets and begin to unload their
crates, as the news spreads by word of mouth and people begin to arrive,
taking up their places, in a mathematically probable but always dubious
line (for the queue thickens as it grows outward and decibel levels rise
and rise). Bicycle taxis arrive and leave with a trail of complaints
behind them, the desperate throats growl, gloom and tension builds up,
onlookers hoard potatoes to re-sell them and general frustration swells.
In Cuba, potatoes spell a genuine disaster.
When Cuba exported potatoes to the Soviet Union on a seasonal basis,
people recognized the tuber by its reddish color. Today, the Soviet
Union no longer exists, red isn't a very common color and potatoes are
becoming extinct.
Last year, I had a couple enjoyable meals with potatoes, which I had
bought from a re-seller at a good price. I don't know what will happen
this year. I work and I'm sincerely put off and depressed by having to
waste time standing in the endless potato line.
Before, one received potato quotas through the ration booklet.
Later, these rations were "removed" as part of the updating of the
economic model and in response to new commercial opportunities.
Today, potatoes are hard to come by, and those who sell these legally
dispense a mere 10 pounds per person (at least where I live).
In my opinion, if the government wanted to implement a popular measure,
so as to demonstrate they are once again on the side of the humble, such
a measure could well be to reinstate potato rations.
They wouldn't even need to lower prices, only ration it, include it in
the ration booklet again – 5 or 10 pounds a month, at 1 peso the pound,
which is the official price.
This way, the vast majority would be able to enjoy the tuber without
having to stand in line for so long, as getting one's hands on it would
at least be guaranteed (or almost so – today, it happens that chicken
quotas are sometimes not enough to go around, but brawls over rationed
chicken are not as violently aggressive as those over potatoes sold at
markets).
We would then probably see opportunists frightening people by saying
that, if potatoes were rationed, people would re-sell them at a higher
price to make money.
But aren't potatoes being re-sold today anyways? Don't these people
realize that it wouldn't be enough to go around anyways? Or that, if
someone found it necessary to re-sell their 10-pound potato ration, it's
because that person is extremely underprivileged and that would become
yet another of the miserable opportunities people have to survive nowadays?
Supposing this improbable suspicion turned out to be true, if people
re-sold the potato rations they got through the ration booklet, wouldn't
such re-selling lead to a more equitable distribution of benefits,
favorable to the vast majority, which would have access to their basic
dose of potatoes, than the one that stems from today's re-selling? I
know such arguments stink.
They stink just as much as the argument that potatoes cannot be rationed
because that would run contrary to the logic of the reform process, the
elimination of subsidies, the market economy and other items of idle
chatter coming from the Cuban brand of neo-liberal academism looming
over us. Any reasonable person understands that, in a truly "prosperous
and sustainable" society, there must be enough potatoes for everyone and
that these must be sold at a good a price.
As I see it, Cuba's farm produce distribution system (which includes
wholesale markets, agricultural and livestock markets and grocery and
ration locales, where the ration booklet is used to obtain goods) must
become a cooperative of consumers.
But they have opted for a different "solution": to rely on cooperatives
made up of partners who operate large markets where produce tends to
concentrate, State hoarders and private intermediaries.
In an economy with scarce products, such measures only make things more
unbalanced, for state control is of necessity ineffective and
iniquitous, and, when you add a bit of capitalism to it, it becomes even
more wicked. Only a democratic impulse from "below" can lead to the
equitable redistribution of "market" products – all kinds of products,
including potatoes.
Source: Should Potatoes in Cuba be Rationed Once Again? - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=110348
April 1, 2015
Dmitri Prieto Samsónov
HAVANA TIMES — I try to avoid and evade the lines of people waiting to
buy potatoes. The tuber arrives this time of year, during Lent,
accompanied by people's undying potential for standing in line and
starting fights with one another, in defiance of all remotely Christian
feelings.
Trucks arriving from the countryside, loaded with sacks of earth-covered
root vegetables, park by the produce markets and begin to unload their
crates, as the news spreads by word of mouth and people begin to arrive,
taking up their places, in a mathematically probable but always dubious
line (for the queue thickens as it grows outward and decibel levels rise
and rise). Bicycle taxis arrive and leave with a trail of complaints
behind them, the desperate throats growl, gloom and tension builds up,
onlookers hoard potatoes to re-sell them and general frustration swells.
In Cuba, potatoes spell a genuine disaster.
When Cuba exported potatoes to the Soviet Union on a seasonal basis,
people recognized the tuber by its reddish color. Today, the Soviet
Union no longer exists, red isn't a very common color and potatoes are
becoming extinct.
Last year, I had a couple enjoyable meals with potatoes, which I had
bought from a re-seller at a good price. I don't know what will happen
this year. I work and I'm sincerely put off and depressed by having to
waste time standing in the endless potato line.
Before, one received potato quotas through the ration booklet.
Later, these rations were "removed" as part of the updating of the
economic model and in response to new commercial opportunities.
Today, potatoes are hard to come by, and those who sell these legally
dispense a mere 10 pounds per person (at least where I live).
In my opinion, if the government wanted to implement a popular measure,
so as to demonstrate they are once again on the side of the humble, such
a measure could well be to reinstate potato rations.
They wouldn't even need to lower prices, only ration it, include it in
the ration booklet again – 5 or 10 pounds a month, at 1 peso the pound,
which is the official price.
This way, the vast majority would be able to enjoy the tuber without
having to stand in line for so long, as getting one's hands on it would
at least be guaranteed (or almost so – today, it happens that chicken
quotas are sometimes not enough to go around, but brawls over rationed
chicken are not as violently aggressive as those over potatoes sold at
markets).
We would then probably see opportunists frightening people by saying
that, if potatoes were rationed, people would re-sell them at a higher
price to make money.
But aren't potatoes being re-sold today anyways? Don't these people
realize that it wouldn't be enough to go around anyways? Or that, if
someone found it necessary to re-sell their 10-pound potato ration, it's
because that person is extremely underprivileged and that would become
yet another of the miserable opportunities people have to survive nowadays?
Supposing this improbable suspicion turned out to be true, if people
re-sold the potato rations they got through the ration booklet, wouldn't
such re-selling lead to a more equitable distribution of benefits,
favorable to the vast majority, which would have access to their basic
dose of potatoes, than the one that stems from today's re-selling? I
know such arguments stink.
They stink just as much as the argument that potatoes cannot be rationed
because that would run contrary to the logic of the reform process, the
elimination of subsidies, the market economy and other items of idle
chatter coming from the Cuban brand of neo-liberal academism looming
over us. Any reasonable person understands that, in a truly "prosperous
and sustainable" society, there must be enough potatoes for everyone and
that these must be sold at a good a price.
As I see it, Cuba's farm produce distribution system (which includes
wholesale markets, agricultural and livestock markets and grocery and
ration locales, where the ration booklet is used to obtain goods) must
become a cooperative of consumers.
But they have opted for a different "solution": to rely on cooperatives
made up of partners who operate large markets where produce tends to
concentrate, State hoarders and private intermediaries.
In an economy with scarce products, such measures only make things more
unbalanced, for state control is of necessity ineffective and
iniquitous, and, when you add a bit of capitalism to it, it becomes even
more wicked. Only a democratic impulse from "below" can lead to the
equitable redistribution of "market" products – all kinds of products,
including potatoes.
Source: Should Potatoes in Cuba be Rationed Once Again? - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=110348
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